Straw Hat adventures in Alagaesia
by Sokka's Fan-Lawyer
Summary: When Luffy causes Franky to activate one of his inventions by accident, the crew find themselves taken to a world beyond their own. From there, they wind up falling in with the Varden...will Alagaesia be able to handle the Straw Hats; before Thiller Bark
1. Chapter 1

Luffy smirked confidently to himself, congratulating himself for a job to soon be well done

**Hey guys, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer here! This story is the result of being an Eragon obsessive fan and a One Piece obsessed fan right before the latest Inheritance book comes out. I'm sorry if some of the characters, especially Franky, seem OOC, but that's mostly due to me not knowing the character nearly as well as the rest of the crew. Now that that's said, on with the fanfic!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Eragon or One Piece…only a few copies of the books.**

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** Prologue**

Luffy smirked confidently to himself, congratulating himself for a job to soon be well done. He was all alone in the kitchen, managing to bypass all of Sanji's traps and was just about to smash the lock off the meat locker, when a voice began to speak….

_Luffy, don't smash the lock. That will advertise that we were here and Sanji will know that it was us and kick our ass! _

The straw hat clad captain looked around, "Who was that? Who's talking to me?"

_It's me, your voice of reason. _

"Who? I've never heard of you!" Inside his head, his voice of reason only rolled his eyes and went back for another seventeen year long nap, having said his two bits. "Hello? Voice of Reason Guy?" When he got no reply, he just shrugged it off and immediately began to try and remove the lock on the door….

Somewhere on the Thousand Sunny, Sanji's head suddenly rose, as if he sensed something was amiss. "Is something wrong?" Nami asked as Sanji stopped waving a fan over her while she was studying some maps.

"Nothing, Nami-san, I just need to go check something in the kitchen; But I'll be back!" He called as he left, heading towards the kitchen.

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What first alerted Luffy to someone's presence in the kitchen was the chill that ran down his spine as soon as the door was slammed open. "Damn it Luffy! I take my eyes off of you for a second and you go straight to the meat!" He somehow cleared half the distance of the room and kicked Luffy away from the meat locker. Luffy scowled and crawled out of the kitchen, knowing that Sanji was watching his every movement.

With his meat venture a failure, the captain had nothing to do; so thus, he just wandered around the ship, bothering people for his own amusement. "Hey Usopp, what'cha doin'?"

The sharpshooter raised his hand to silence Luffy, "I'm trying to creating a much more devastating pepper star using…" From that moment on, Luffy tuned out and began to scan the room for something else to do, "'Kay, good luck with that." He said and headed off in Chopper's direction.

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"Hey Chopper! What'cha up to?" Luffy asked as he entered Chopper's hospital like room. "Oh, hey Luffy." The reindeer turned doctor greeted distractedly while he was mixing some concoction. Luffy quickly scampered over to his friend's side and looked into the stone bowl he was using to mash leaves and such together.

"What're you making?" Luffy asked. Chopper added a few ingredients.

"I'm making a lotion that could possibly speed up the recovery of wounds as well as stop bleeding, but I can't come up with the final ingredient that could make it work; do you think that maple root might…" Luffy quickly said good bye and hurried out of the room, accidentally kicking Usopp's pepper mixture on his way by, sending some of it into Chopper's mixture and most of it on Usopp's face.

"Sorry about that," he said and continued on his way out.

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"Nami!" Luffy said as he got up on deck, looking around.

"Not right now Luffy, I'm busy." She said as she scoured her charts; trying to come up with a route through the Florian Triangle.

"But..." He began to whine, but Nami cut him off.

"Look, can't you go talk to Zoro?"

"He's sleeping."

"Robin?"

"She's reading."

"Usopp or Chopper?"

"Already been there; they're busy too."

"…Sanji?" Luffy shook his head, turning down the idea due to wanting to avoid the cook until he had cooled down.

"What about Franky?" She offered, hoping that Luffy would take up on her hint and leave her alone.

The rubber captain hadn't considered visiting his latest crew member yet, so he quickly said thanks and ran off to go see Franky while Nami let out a held breathe and went back to her charts.

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"Franky, you in here?" Luffy called as he entered the older man's workshop. Looking around, he noticed that Franky, having not responded, was bending over, working on something. "Franky?"

"Shhh! Shut up moron, I'm trying to work on something here!" The speed-o clad man hissed, and then went back to work. Luffy looked at the device: it was about as tall as the ceiling, and was little more then a metallic pipe that trailed into a metallic teardrop shaped space that rested on the floor, with buttons and dials covering the surface.

Franky then sat up, wiping sweat off his forehead with one of his massive wrists, "There, that should do it."

"Do what?" Luffy asked curiously.

"This invention is going to be so SUPER!! The technology is so ground breaking that my genius will be known for centuries!" He struck a pose, waiting for Luffy to respond.

"Yeah, okay, but what does it actually do?"

"This," Franky patted the teardrop. "Is going to change the science of transportation as we know it. What it does is it bends time and space around our ship, increasing the distance we can cover by a hundred, no a thousand folds!"

"That's lame."

Franky was angry, "WHAT WAS THAT STRAW HAT?!"

"The long way to getting to places is part of the fun!" Luffy countered with, what he thought was, good reasoning.

"I don't care about that! Do you have any idea of what this could mean for our travel expenses? We could save thousands of berries! Escaping the marines will be a snap!" As he ranted, Franky waved his arms for emphasis…only to bring his fist down on the teardrop, denting it and causing it to begin to make beeping noises.

"You broke it." Luffy stated as Franky stood, shocked.

"This is your fault you idiot!" Franky picked up Luffy and was walking him to the door when the beeping noises stopped; both of the pirates turned and saw that the machine was beginning to glow. "Aw shit." Franky murmured as the glow expanded, engulfing them all.

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Luffy's eyes opened slowly, and then widened as the memory of what had happened came back. He sat up and took a quick look around the deck of the Thousand Sunny, only to see his fellow crewmates spread out around the deck unconscious as well.

The rubber captain got up and looked over the side, only to see a sea of dark, greenish water with an island several miles away; unfortunately, Luffy couldn't make out any features of the island. The sky was also kind of greenish and dark.

By that time, the rest of the crew had come to and had joined their captain. "What happened? Where are we?" As Franky explained to the others what had happened, Luffy noticed that the ship seemed to be heading towards the island on its own.

"Um, guys?"

"Shut it Luffy, it seems that this is all your fault anyway!" Nami said as she punched him across the deck. It was then that she noticed that the ship was moving; however, by then it was too late, for the ship had already gotten close enough to the island for the crew to disembark.

Eventually, the crew (i.e. everyone besides Nami and Usopp) decided to go and explore the island, so Sanji packed some food, Chopper some medical supplies, and then the crew was ready to go.

After getting off, they got their first look at the island that they had ended up on; it wasn't much to look at, with it's dead trees and shrubbery, plus of the lack of signs of life didn't help much either.

Usopp's legs were shaking as he and Nami tried to put themselves in the middle of the group as to not get left behind and face whatever horrors that they imagined the place to have.

After they had walked for about fifteen minutes, a hut came into view. Eager to finally meet someone as well as to get an explanation of their surroundings, the Straw Hats raced towards it. The hut itself was rather plain, made with tan yet sturdy straw with a roughly six foot tall opening for a doorway. The inside had a bed, a night stand, as well as a bookshelf filled with titles in an unfamiliar language (Robin immediately walked over to the shelf and tried to guess what language they were in.).

While the Straw Hats explored the hut, a voice came from the doorway, "Taken a liking to my home, have you?" An old man stood in the doorway holding a few pieces of wood. The pirates quickly apologized and explained what they had been doing. When they had asked where they were, the old man laughed, "Do you really have no idea about where you could possibly after being engulfed in an explosion like that?"

They shook their heads. The old man sighed and said, "You're in the land of the dead." With that, everyone glared at Luffy. "You rubber bastard! You killed us all!" They began to beat said bastard up while the old man chuckled at the sight.

Now that they got a better look at the old man, what he had said made sense: he was wearing a robe made of material that hadn't been used for thousands of years, and when they had brought up some of the technology in their story, he had looked baffled at the ideas of the simplest things (such as guns and for that matter, blenders…as well as the very idea of a cyborg)…how couldn't he have known about such things unless he had died long ago?

The now bloody mass that had been their captain asked, "What about our ship? If we died, how come our ship came with us?" This seemed to surprise the old man as well, "Your ship, you say?"

He thought about it for a second, and then asked, "Blue Hair,"

"That's Franky."

"Whatever. Anyway, what did you say you were making again?"

"A device that bends the time and space surrounding the ship and making it capable of…" The cyborg's eyes widened as he figured out what the man was hinting at. "We didn't die…I just accidentally activated the device and it transported us here…." The others nodded, satisfied with the explanation, but it still didn't answer one of their questions….

"HOW THE HELL DO WE GET OUT OF HERE?!" They all yelled at the old man, as if he would have the answer.

He just shrugged, "Couldn't you just use the machine again?" Franky shook his head, "Heck no, do you have any idea of how much cola that thing used to transport us here? Twenty gallons…which is more then we have on the ship." The others looked shocked.

"That much?" Franky nodded, "It was one of the kinks in the machine's design; I had been planning to work on fixing the problem, until Luffy interrupted me…." Everyone once again glared at Luffy, who scooted a little closer to the old man for protection, who was thinking.

"You say that you managed to destroy an entire 'marine' base all on your own?" They nodded, "Yeah, we even took down CP9, which was made up of practically super humans!" He seemed to be considering something….

"I could possibly help you get this…'cola' as it were." "You can?" He nodded, "Yes. You see, here in the land of the dead, we wind up getting things from all sorts of time eras; chances are that, with enough searching, I could find it somewhere." "That's great!" the straw hats chorused, but he held up his hand, "But, in return, I need you to do something for me…."

"What?" Usopp asked. "You see, in the land that I was from, there currently a massive power struggle among the people: The people trying to overthrow the king of the empire there-known as the Varden- and the Empire's forces. Among these forces, there is a boy who holds the key to success for the Varden in liberating the country of its king…"

"So you want us to kick his ass?" Luffy offered.

"No! It's the king that's the problem, not the boy. The boy is who I want you to protect and help in order for him to achieve his destiny of defeating the king, for he needs all the help he can get." The Straw Hats considered this for awhile, and then said, "We'll do it."

The old man looked at them suspiciously, "You will?" Luffy nodded, "If anything, we wouldn't mind kicking this king's ass, but we'll help out the guy too."

"What's his name and how do we find him?" "And for that matter, what's your name?" Zoro added.

"His name's Eragon and all you would have to do is…" He went on to explain where the Varden currently was, as well as mentioning that they should keep their ears open to any rumors of a 'dragon rider' (he didn't bother explaining the significance of the term to the pirates) that they heard, that they should disguise Chopper and force Franky to wear pants…and dye their hair, which was something that the pirates just couldn't do for some reason.

After the Straw Hats were prepared enough, the old man led them down a path to a cave, which was pitch black inside. "We have to go down there?" asked a trembling Usopp. The old man nodded, "Yes, this is the tunnel that connects life to death. Normally, no one from this side can enter, but since you aren't dead, it may work." He then looked over the pirates. Franky, while being the one with the oddest hair, was forced to wear a hood that covered much of his face except his jaw and mouth…he was also wearing pants. Chopper was completely covered in cloaks and robes to try and disguise that he was reindeer…he even had to wear a pair of boots that could feet any three old to hide his hooves.

Other then that, the rest of the crew had simply changed clothes; they all wore boots as well as long sleeved tunics (except Nami and Robin, who wore dress to keep from suspicion) while Nami and Zoro had to wear hoods to hide their hair. Satisfied, the old man gestured to them that they could begin to leave. Zoro went first, followed by Chopper, until only Luffy and Franky were left. Franky looked at the old man with concern on his face.

"Don't worry, I'll find this 'cola' substance that you need." Franky nodded and left to follow the others. Luffy looked at the man and grinned confidently, "Don't worry; we'll help out this kid for you!" With that said, Luffy ran down the tunnel.

There was silence for few seconds after Luffy's departure, but then the old man murmured, "Good luck." Under his breathe and began to leave, with Brom feeling confident that Eragon and Saphira were in good hands.

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**And that's it for the first chapter…and possibly the last chapter. You see, right now I'm working and concentrating on a different fanfic, so this one may not be updated for a long while…however, if I find that people want to read it, I will continue it. **

**Read and Review or I'll…SUE YA!!**


	2. Chapter 2

"What

**Hey guys, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer here! And here is the second/first chapter to Straw Hat Adventures in Alagesia! Now, I know I said that I wouldn't continue this story for awhile, but due to the reviews I got for it (Thanks so much for the reviews guys; you're awesome!), I decided to try and work on it now.**

**Anyway, I'm sorry in advance if the paragraphs are a little long, but I was trying to add more detail and I have yet to figure out how to balance length and detail. Also, for any OOCness that is featured in here (mainly Franky; if anyone has any ideas on how he would act, I will gladly hear them). **

**Now that that's done (Sorry for the long A/N), on with the fanfic!!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Eragon or One Piece…I can only wish that the manga and next book would just hurry up and get here.  
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**New World**

"What?! What the hell do you mean 'no cigarettes'?!" Sanji yelled, waking up the (in his opinion) lazy ass crew members who were sleeping past 10:00…or, that's what Nami san said that's what the time was.

Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro quickly got to their feet and had their weapons drawn, looking quickly in every direction. "What's going on?! We under attack?!" Franky and Chopper looked at their confused crewmates and fought the urge to laugh, but Robin was distracted by some book that she was reading.

Nami just sweat dropped and said, "No, it's nothing like that. Sanji is just being an ass about having to temporarily give up his cigarettes." With that explanation, she shifted her attention back to Sanji.

"Look, chances are, they haven't been invented yet here and we don't want to attract attention. We'll buy you a pipe or something, so it's not that big a deal!"

Sanji, however, still seemed reluctant, but Nami eventually managed to coax him into agreement.

Luffy, however, hadn't paid any attention to the debate and had slowly lowered himself back down to the grassy clearing they were currently in…when Nami walked over to him and pulled him up.

"No, no more sleep. It's going to take us most of the day to get to the nearest town and I want to be there before nightfall. So get off your ass and help carry stuff!" The straw hat clad captain began to complain, but was silenced by Nami's glare; so he walked over to the nearest bundle and picked it up, leaving Nami to ponder when exactly she had become the crew's baby sitter.

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Last night, the crew had emerged from a rather dull looking grave cave into a dense forest, with trees and plants that not even Robin recognized. After taking a few seconds to take in their new surroundings, the crew decided to try and find a place to settle down for the night.

They walked through the plants until they discovered a beaten down dirt trail heading, which in turn lead them to their current location: in the middle of a circular clearing with the trail running through it.

After some preparation and some enforcing the clearing around them so no one would be able to sneak up on them while they slept, the crew then decided to get some sleep and leave the actual figuring out of what to do until the next morning.

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"So, where do you think that we should go from here?" Luffy asked as they were all gathered around a map of the continent that the old man had given Robin…among other things.

"I don't even know where the hell we are now, much less then where we should go!" Nami snapped as she carefully analyzed the map of Alagesia. After a few minutes of looking between the map and the sky and the sun's position, she sighed, "My best guess is that the nearest town is Ceunon. To get there, however, we're heading the wrong way, so we'll have to back track down the path."

Nami's guess was as good as any of theirs (probably better), so the rest of the crew just nodded and got up, picking up their respective bundles. Franky and Chopper quickly donned their dark brown cloaks, pulling up the hoods as to hide their faces (Franky even reluctantly traded his black sunglasses and Hawaiian shirt for a pair of dark pants and shirt that were made of a scratchy material as well as boots.), Chopper pulled on some gloves and a pair of child's boots as well as shirt and pants, letting the cloak cover the rest of his appearance.

Luffy and the rest did the same: Luffy pulled on a sleeveless brown shirt and pants, while pulling on a cloak that covered his hat and acted as a scarf at the same time (A/N: just look at his look in the Alabasta arc and you have a good/ near perfect image of what he looked like), Zoro did likewise, but his shirt was long sleeved and his swords hung from his hip as usual, Usopp left his goggles and pulled on a short sleeved dark shirt and pants, and Sanji traded his suit in for a dark long sleeved shirt and pants, but he made sure his boots were steel toed (not caring if they were from that time or not), since his feet were crucial to his fighting.

Nami and Robin instead, each had a long sleeved dress that went down to their ankles, as well as cloaks that covered their heads. Beyond that, the male members of the crew ended up carrying most of the food and water (to this day, they still don't know how Nami and Robin talked them into it) as they walked down the same path that they had come.

They walked along the path for hours; by 3:00, they had covered more then several dozen miles. Fortunately, by then, they had also reached the edge of the forest and could see the village of Ceunon…but it was still around 30 miles away.

The plain that they had entered was mainly grass and seemed to go on forever to the left and right of them; with a river flowing next to Ceunon being faintly visible in the distance, but it was a little farther then the village itself.

At this point, Luffy's enthusiasm for the adventure they had embarked on had dwindled considerably…being the guy who was carrying about 60-70 percent of the luggage didn't help matters much either. _Why is it always me? _He thought as he panted while dropping the luggage.

The group decided on taking a five minute break to rest and plan on what they were going to do once they reached the village.

"So…what was this guy's name again? Eric? Erafon?" Luffy asked as he sat on the grass in the shade.

"No, it's Eragon. We're actually supposed to meet up with him at this Varden place…or that's what the old man told us." Nami corrected as she pulled out some rice balls and began to hand them around.

"Eragon, huh?" Luffy pondered this for a second as he munched on his rice ball; suddenly, a thought struck him, "These people have weird names." He remarked thoughtfully.

"Yeah, as if 'Luffy' is considered normal." Usopp said as he ate his snack as well.

"Anyway," Nami began. "We have another problem…money, or the lack there of."

"We have money!" Luffy began, but was silenced by Nami.

"No, we don't. We may have a large sum of berries, but we don't even know what this land's currency is, much less have some of it." She paused for a few seconds while this sunk in.

"We could steal some." One of them offered, but Luffy shook his head. "No way! That would be cheating!"

Nami rolled her eyes, but said, "Luffy's right, if we stole the money, we would only risk getting the attention of the Empire, which is something we want to avoid for now. If worst comes to worst, we just work for the money doing odd jobs or something." Satisfied with that, the straw hats got up, grabbed their bundles, and started to head off to Ceunon.

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Getting there proved to be easy compared to maneuvering through the forest…and time consuming. From the edge of the forest to the outer reaches of the village, the whole trip took a few hours.

By the time they actually got there, most of them were panting for breathe a little due to heavy loads or lower stamina. The village looked liked something out of a medieval story book, just without the tall castle in the distance. The buildings were of all sizes, but were mostly block shaped made out of wood with the occasional window showing up.

The overall shape of the village was circular with dirt put down for roads in rows between lanes of houses/buildings. As the straw hats walked down the main road, they stared at some of the signs that were sticking out of/ standing in front of some of the buildings: from barber shops to butchers, these rather primitive forms of advertising caught the pirates eye (The rest of the crew had to force Luffy past the butcher's place, as if they were dealing with a kid in the toy section in Wal Mart.).

There were also a large variety of villagers also walking the same road: small, tall, male, female, families, they were there. As they past the straw hats, some stared, others gave them a wide berth, and some just didn't care. Fortunately, one of the villagers was willing to give the pirates some directions to the nearest inn (after they had asked several, only to get ignored), The Gin Tavern.

The Gin Tavern, as it turned out, was only a few blocks ahead and had a rather large sign with the words Gin Tavern scrawled on the wood sloppily positioned on one of the lower walls, next to a large window on the first floor. The building had, from the outside, two floors, the top have more windows then the bottom, hinting that were more rooms on the top floor.

The roof was made out of straw; the bottom floor had, outside for the large window and the sign, not that much outside of a door between said window and sign, and a few dead plants that were placed to try and make people feel welcome.

A small bell rattled as the straw hats entered the building, revealing the tavern that took up the majority of the first floor, with an entrance to a small kitchen visible in the corner of the room. The room was dimly lit, with the majority of the light coming from the window and the lanterns on the walls, and the stone fireplace that sat against the wall to their right lightless. There were also tables scattered throughout the room, but there were also chairs around the tables and along the bar that sat to their left.

The bartender noticed them and waved them over. "Hello," She greeted them; she looked around five foot five with brown hair that went down past her shoulders, an apron covering the skirt part of her ankle length, long sleeved, patched up dress. "What can I do you for?"

"We'd like two rooms, preferably with more then one bed." Nami stated to her. The girl just blinked and almost laughed, but managed to keep herself in check at the last second.

"I'm sorry, but this place ain't no palace if you know what I mean: the max amount of beds in a room is one, assuming that you have enough money to afford it." Surprise crossed Nami's face, but she quickly shook it away.

"Fine then, we'll just take two rooms."

The bartender nodded, satisfied, "Okay. How long are you planning on staying here then?" She asked as she led them up the stairs at the back of the bar.

Nami glanced at the others before saying, "About a week or so."

"Why? You got business here or something?"

"Of a sort; we're just trying to find some jobs to earn up some money…" The bartender quickly turned around and glared at Nami, "Not that we don't have the money to pay for the rooms of course, but we need more if we are going to buy enough supplies to last us until…" she quickly scanned a mental map of Alagesia. "Teirm."

Satisfied, the female bartender turned around and continued to lead them up the stairs and into the hallway of the second floor, which also had lanterns on the walls as well as doors that went down the entire length of the hallway (so there was roughly ten doors on each side).

She led them to the last two rooms at the end of the hall, gesturing to one and the way across from it. With that, she said farewell and went back to the bar. "Wow, once she learned that we didn't have money, she sure seemed less helpful." Usopp observed as they entered one of the rooms. The room was maybe ten by twenty feet long, with a bed and nightstand shoved into the corner, and a dresser and mirror on the other wall.

"Okay, you guys will get this room; Robin and I will have the one across the hall. Unpack the stuff and we'll meet out in front of the inn in ten minutes." It sounded like a sound plan, so the rest of the straw hats nodded in understanding and turned their attention to their bundles.

As they unpacked, food, equipment, and compasses revealed themselves; their equipment ranged from Franky's tools to Chopper's medical supplies. With that done, the male straw hats quickly organized the supplies (meaning they shoved them in the dresser and drawers and prayed that they could remember which contained what), they ran down to meet up with Nami and Robin.

After meeting up with their crewmates, the pirates began to explore the village, searching for some means of earning money. On their way, they passed a bulletin board that was covered with posters; naturally Zoro stopped to look.

"I could always go back to bounty hunting…." He mused to himself as he looked over the posters, while removing a few from the board for future reference.

While Zoro was doing that, Franky stumbled upon a forgery. Detecting the presence of machines being made, the seven plus foot man walked up to a building that was roughly the size of a large apartment, opened the door, and walked in.

The actual forgery was in a circular room with a wall covered with a variety of tools sitting above a work bench. An anvil was positioned near a fire place with a tub of water near it; there was a person working on the anvil, hitting a heated piece of metal with a hammer while wearing an apron and leather gloves, focusing entirely on his work.

The man looked about five foot seven with shoulder length graying hair tied into a small pony tail, while wearing dark clothes underneath his leather apron.

Taking advantage of the man's distraction, Franky walked up and watched him work; he just watched for a few minutes until he finally spoke up, "You're doing it wrong." He stated.

That got the man's attention, he quickly stopped hammering and glared at Franky, "What makes ya think ya got any idea on how to forge?! Where in the world did ya come from anyway?! Didn't yer mum teach you manners or what, you ass?!" The middle aged man snapped.

Franky naturally was angered by this and was about to show this wannabe metal worker a thing or ten, but he forced himself to remember that these people had no idea on how to do a fourth of the things he did, if anything, because 95 percent of them had yet to be invented.

"Look, I'm just saying that, if you want the metal to be firmer and have more durability, you should..."

"No! This is the way I've made things for years and they've worked just fine; what makes ya think ya can do it better?" He challenged. Franky just sighed at the old man's persistence; he was trying to help him for God's sake!

"Look, how about I give it a shot, and if it doesn't turn out as good as yours, then I'll pay you compensation for the materials I used, but if mine turns out better, then you have to pay me money, okay?" The old man considered this for a time, and then said, "Fine, do what you want; I accept." With that, he went back to his hammering, only with more vigor then before.

Helping himself to some materials, Franky grinned to himself once he thought of the look on the man's face once he was done; he would be so blown away from how super Franky's was going to turn out, he would have to pay him! Now, to decide what to make…how about a sword? They were used a lot in these times, right?

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That night, the male members of the crew -excluding Franky- faced a problem: who got to sleep in the bed?

"As captain, I say that I get it." Luffy stated as they stood in the now cramped room.

"Like hell you do; and since when did you ever act like a captain? I say I get it since I'm the strongest here." Zoro said.

"No way; as the ship's cook, I've done the most work, I say I get it." Sanji said as he walked over to the bed, only to get punched away by Zoro.

"Like I'll let you have it, shit cook!"

"What was that, mold head?!" Sanji demanded as he and Zoro glared at each other, neither of them noticing Luffy slowly creeping up to the bed, only to be tackled by Usopp and Chopper.

As a result, the sounds of fighting and objects being broken was heard by the entire inn for the rest of the night; so much so that Nami and Robin stormed in there while Robin, using her devil fruit, made her arms multiple and pin down the fighting straw hats.

Once that was done, the two women confiscated the bed and took to their room, leaving Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, and Usopp to lie on the floor and blame each other for the rest of the night.

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When Franky showed up a few days later, he came bearing money; Nami was actually happier to see the money then she was to see him (the inn keeper had demanded that they pay for the repairs done by the male pirates fight). He explained what had happened, explaining the way he had challenged the village's smith to a contest; he ended up winning said contest, earning the amount of money he should have ended up giving the old man.

When they were done, the old man's blade was compared to that of Franky's, who –much to the old man's surprise- had created a katana, similar to one of those that he had seen Zoro carrying around. They slashed at logs, trying to see which had the finer cut. Once Franky had won, the old man paid him and offered him to make things for him and he would get paid fair compensation for whatever orders he completed.

So, Franky left for the forge each day for the rest of the week at four in the morning and got back to their room at nine at night, bringing money each night, only to have to pull up a comfortable piece of floor to sleep on.

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Nami and Robin, being the most knowledgeable about the country of the crew, were the ones who scoured the town for information on any possible location to find this 'Eragon' guy, asking every bar in the village about any rumors on the subject…but to no avail.

At least, until the fifth day of their search. A sailor, claiming to be from Teirm, arrived in town to visit his relatives, and since he had just come from a successful voyage, he had money to spend.

He spent most of his time visiting his relatives, but when he wasn't, he was found drinking in The Gin Tavern's bar, which Nami and Robin took full advantage of. After all, there was no better place to get information then from a drunken person incapable of lying.

So the two asked him questions and, eventually, managed to direct him towards anything to do with the mysterious new dragon rider. He eventually let slip of an escape from the city of Dras-Leona near the mountain of Hel Grind that had happened a few weeks before; apparently, a boy and an old man, while using magic (Nami almost snorted at that; after all, magic didn't exist), managed to slaughter the entire city guard and slip through the gates at the same time.

Nami repeated the story to the rest of the straw hats later that night. "…so anyway, if the two who escaped used 'magic', then chances are, the boy was this 'Eragon' guy we need to find."

"Where's Dras-Leona?" Sanji asked. Nami pulled out a map from her bag and unraveled it onto the mirror in the guys' room. "We are here…" She pointed to Ceunon in the north western corner of the map. "And Dras-Leona is…here." She pointed far south, to a city along the Leona Lake.

"That far?!" Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp gasped, amazed. Nami nodded while mentally calculating the amount of supplies they would need. "Yeah, and even on horses, it would probably take us a month or even more to get there." There was silence at this as the unspoken truth settled in…: by then, any potential lead would have dried up and be long gone.

"Well, it's the best lead we got so far, right?" Luffy said after a few minutes. He got to his feet and pulled on his straw hat with a determined look on his face, "Let's go. We made a promise to the old man." The rest nodded and began to pack, pulling their gear together and preparing for the coming day.

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**Well, that's it for this chapter! Sorry if it seemed kinda dull and uneventful, but I needed to have the Straw Hats trying to adjust to this new world and trying to figure out what to do first (I hope it worked out). So, I hope you guys liked it and will come back to see how the Straw Hats fare on their way to Dras-Leona!**


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer here

**Hey guys, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer here! That's right, I've finally finished the next chapter of Straw Hats (insert applause here)! **

**Anyway, sorry that it came later then expected, but I've been busy and have been suffering a minor case of writer's block…which means that my other story might not be updated as soon as I would like. **

**Anyway, now that's over, on with the fanfic!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own One Piece or Eragon…if I did, would I be writing fanfiction?**

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**It's a Long, Long Way to Dras Leona**

"Ow, damn it, I told you to eat the sugar cube, not my hand!" Luffy yelled as he tried to force his hand out from between the brown horse's teeth…to no success. Usopp just laughed, came over shaking his head.

"You're doing it wrong, dumb ass; you have to stroke the horse's neck like so, and then give it the sugar…ARRGH!" He yelled as his horse clamped down on his hand as well.

"Now who's the dumb ass?" Luffy smirked while he allowed his arm to stretch as he went to get Chopper; after much coaxing from the man-reindeer, the horses eventually released the hands of the pirates, much to their owners' appreciation. While they were blowing on their now flat and red hands, the owner of the stable they were currently in looked away from Nami and Robin, who were negotiating with him.

"That's odd; Jak and Dax don't usually listen to other people but me." He remarked while scratching his head, running his hand through his balding hair. "Yeah, our friend usually has that affect on animals; now moving back to how much these horses are going to cost us…" Nami responded, hoping to get moving to Dras Leona as soon as possible.

Since deciding to head to Dras Leona to try and build off their current lead, Nami and Robin had immediately started trying get all the supplies they were going need as well as a means of transport while the rest of the crew continued to get used to this new world and try to make money at the same time. Zoro had had some success with bounty hunting and Franky's creations with the metal smith always made a decent sum (Sanji even managed to get into a kitchen at a local restaurant). Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper just sort of hung out, sight saw, and tried not to get into trouble (to limited success).

Nami and Robin negotiated with the horse breeder for a half hour, but he proved stubborn (he didn't lower the price by much when Nami showed him her bust; she herself was shocked by what had once been a sure fire tactic didn't affect him to much), but soon they were walking away with seven horses. Nami sighed as she crunched the numbers in her head, "As of now, we're broke." The rest looked at her with confusion on their faces. "That guy made us pay almost two thousand crowns for the horses; including the expenses from the food and supplies, we are pretty much screwed in the finances department."

Looks of understanding dawned on their faces as they lead the horses back to the inn, where they would be able to put keep the horses for a night, since they planned their departure time for the next day. Once the horses were taken care off, they went back to their rooms, packed, and waited for Franky, Zoro, and Sanji to arrive.

The first to arrive was Sanji, shortly followed by Franky; both of whom, collapsed onto the floor (since Nami and Robin still had their bed from when they confiscated it due to arguments) from weariness; however, when Zoro showed up, he looked completely serious. Without saying a word, he through two wanted posters at the rest of the crew, and then left to talk to Nami and Robin; intrigued, the rest of the crew looked over the wanted posters: the first one had a sketch of a shaven man who looked about in his late teens, with the name Roran scrawled underneath, with a reward of ten thousand crowns for the crime of treason. The second one had a sketch of a boy, whom looked as though he was only a little bit over fifteen, with the name…. "Eragon?!" They all read, shocked that they now had a picture of their target. As they read, they learned that the reward for his capture would be earldom…but that he was extremely dangerous as well.

"Well," Sanji began as he took a drag of his new pipe after a few seconds. "we have our guy…it seems as though this king guy wants Eragon real badly, if he went as far as to give out earldom for him; is being a 'dragon rider' really make you that big of a threat?" he pondered as Nami, Robin, and Zoro all came in; Nami hurried over to the posters and read them. After she had finished, she just stood there, in the middle of their wooden room, and thought; after awhile, she said, "It looks the situation is becoming more dire the longer we wait; we're going to have to get to Dras Leona as soon as we can, so that means fewer rest stops and less sleep." With this, she turned her back to the rest of the crew and walked out, her parting words being, "We're leaving at dawn." The rest could only nod in agreement and to try and get as much sleep before then as they could.

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The next day, their journey had begun. True to her word, Nami forced everyone to get up before dawn and have them prepare the horses while she went and paid their bill; when she got out of the inn and entered the dark, cool street, she was met with sleepy glares and packed horses, and, without a word, they departed from Ceunon.

Hours later, Nami regretted having purchased horses; sure, they went faster then if they had walked, but she had not taken into account that most of the crew actually knew how to ride a horse (Nami and Robin knew and Chopper didn't even need one-but whenever they past a town, they always made sure that he was riding on someone's horse with them), which led to much cussing and delays. Finally, after having to ride in large grassy plain with the forest that they had emerged far along their left and the Anora River on their right for a day, they decided to stop for the night.

"I can't feel my ass!" Luffy groaned as he leaped off his horse while Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji let out similar cries as they hurried to get of the (in their opinion) evil beings that were secretly out to kill them, although, that opinion may have come from being bucked off several times each that day. Nami made no comment as Chopper collapsed, panting from having to keep up with the horses in his reindeer form.

After a few minutes rest, Robin started a fire that Sanji could then begin to cook their dinner; while he worked on that, Luffy asked Nami, who was busy tacking down the horses and trying to study the map at the same time in the dimly sunlight, "So, what's the plan?" She didn't reply for a few seconds, and when she had finished with the horses, she then answered him.

"For now, we will continue to follow the Anora River and, when it makes a bend off towards those mountains," She gestured to the mountains off in the distance, through whose peaks that they could see the last glimmers of sunlight, off to their right. "We'll make a beeline to Yazuac to fill up on supplies, replenish our water in the river near there, make one last stop at Daret, and then we head straight off to Dras Leona." Luffy just nodded, as if he knew what she was talking about, and then asked. "How long will that take?"

She was silent for a moment as she calculated their current speed and estimated how long the overall trip would take, "About a month." She answered, "So I wouldn't recommend eating too much since our food supplies need to last at least that long." Leaving a look of horror on her captain's face, she went to inform the rest of the crew (who were circled around the fire, while Sanji stirred something in a pot over the flames) of the plan.

After that, Sanji quickly dished his stew, and everyone ate quickly (however, they only had one bowl each; Nami had informed Sanji on the time estimation prier to everyone else and he had come up with a ration system while they were riding.). Once everyone was done with their meals, they put out the fire and found a comfortable spot of grass covered ground to sleep on and looked up at the night sky, staring at the stars. After a long time of silence, Luffy spoke up, "You know…the stars here are much clearer then they are back home." And they were; the tiny shining dots the covered the now dark night sky, filling the plain they were laying on with a very dim light. Everyone else just nodded as they began to go to sleep. The last thing that Luffy said before falling asleep was: "I wonder how Ace is doing?"

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Eventually, a routine had settled in as the Straw Hats continued on their way to Dras Leona: They wake up and leave at dawn, Chopper comes down the horses after the inevitable bucking, take a quick stop for lunch, and then ride until dusk. While it may have been rather simplistic, it worked and slowly, but surely, they made their way to Yazuac (and along the way, the crew even began to get used to riding horses…which lead to less being bucked off).

"This…is worst then Alabasta." Luffy muttered between clenched teeth.

"Hey, at least this time, we don't have to walk." Usopp stated from his brown horse who was looking somewhat displeased with its current owner. Luffy just mumbled something and went back to trying not to fall off his horse while trying to keep the baggage on at the same time. Nami just smirked slightly at the memory of riding the camel she had affectionally named Eyelashes with the pirates' friend Vivi, while seeing the rest of them complain and run to catch up…aw good times.

"Just chill Luffy, Yazuac is straight ahead." She said as she gestured to the village that lay ahead fifty or so miles straight ahead, with only the far off mountains of 'The Spine' and the grassy plain around them. With a slight reprieve in sight, Luffy cheered up considerably and even managed to speed up his horse by a slight amount.

After an hour or so of traveling, the Straw Hats had finally arrived at their destination; however, Nami seemed to notice that something was amiss. There wasn't any sound of people despite it being the middle of the day, surely there'd be someone out and about? Nami pondered, she shared her fears with the rest of the crew, "Something's not right." Robin, Sanji, Franky, and Zoro nodded, having been suspecting the same thing for awhile; Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper only looked confused. Not saying anything, Zoro and Sanji went ahead of the group, sensing the presence of blood; it didn't take them long to get back, and when they did return, they looked shocked and outraged.

"They've all been slaughtered." Zoro stated while Sanji looked sick. The rest of the crew were shocked and hurried to see the sight for themselves; what they found wasn't pretty. There were bodies everywhere, most being stacked up in a pile at the center of the circular village; most of the bodies had been picked clean of eyes and such by crows long before the pirates had arrived. Most of the buildings had doors broken off their hinges and windows shattered; several buildings outside and along an alleyway looked as though they had been blown up and burned by something intense. There was dried blood covering most of the ground while the crew just stared on, appalled. Luffy was shaking in rage…and his eyes fell onto a little boy, looking no older then eight, lying down on the ground, his eyes picked out by the crows as well as some of his flesh as dried blood coated his face.

"Who…did…this?" Luffy managed to get out through clenched teeth as his finger nails dug into his palms due to the strength that he was clenching his fists. There was silence for sometime until Luffy yelled, "WHO DID THIS?! COME ON OUT BASTARD!!" He screamed at the sky, scaring away some of the crows. "I'LL KICK YOUR ASS! I'LL…" Nami slowly walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Luffy, there's nothing we can do; whoever did this is long gone." Luffy said nothing, but turned and walked away, his eyes being covered by the brim of his hat, but a few tears were visible as they trailed down his face.

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Naturally, the Straw Hats left what was left of Yazuac and skirted around it, refilling any water bottles/canisters they had in the Ninor River instead, as well as hunting for their meat (due to Luffy's funk, either Sanji or Zoro would go with Usopp usually tagging along due to his talent at marksmanship). Beyond that, they stuck to the routine that they had established and, within a day or two, they were rapidly approaching Daret.

However, while they were still a mile or so out, Luffy spoke for the first time since the massacre of Yazuac. "How could any king just let something like that happen? They didn't even bury the bodies…"

"Well, he _is _a dictator after all. That's one of the reasons the old man wants us to help Eragon out; to help him defeat this king." Usopp replied.

"We'll do more then that." Luffy scowled while looking straight at Daret. "If this Eragon guy doesn't kick this guy's ass, then I'll do it for him." He stated while a look of determination filled his eyes as they finally made their way to Daret.

The town looked rather deserted as the pirates entered the main road that went straight through the circular formation of buildings, with no one being visible and the outside of the buildings seemed as though they hadn't been used in awhile; for a second, they feared that Daret had suffered a similar fate to that of Yazuac…until they saw the upturned carriage wagons and crates that served as a barrier. Zoro quickly sensed something and quietly began to draw one of his swords. Sure enough, archers quickly came into view on top of the buildings and focused on the crew. A man appeared on the top of the barrier.

"Stop where you are! If you make any sudden moves, my archers will open fire." He gestured to the men on top of the buildings.

"Who are you?" Robin asked calmly while gesturing to Usopp, Zoro, and Nami to drop their weapons and glanced at Franky to ensure that he didn't activate any.

"Name's Trevor." The man scowled. "Anyway, what are you here for?" Robin only shrugged.

"We're here for supplies, mainly food and water. We're on our way to Dras Leona, so we need as much as you can spare."

The man scanned over the Straw Hats with a thoughtful look on his face. "You have an awfully large group to be heading to Dras Leona…why are you heading there?"

"We're on a pilgrimage; we were chose to represent our village there at the church of Hel Grind." While the rest of the crew had no idea of what she was talking about, they just kept their confusion away from their faces and hoped the man would buy it. He just scowled.

"Hel Grind? You people would have to be fools to try and join a sadistic religion such as that." Robin just shrugged with a 'what can you do?' expression on her face.

"Anyway, what's with the extra security? Are the bandits this bad over here?" A solemn expression crossed Trevor's features.

"Not only them, but…I take it you've already seen Yazuac?" Robin nodded, shivering at the memory. "Well, we heard from some travelers who came through a few months ago that a herd of Urgals had come through and killed everyone there; so after seeing it for ourselves, we immediately tried to take a step up with our security to try and ensure it didn't happen to us." Robin pondered this for a second.

"So…are Urgal herds common around here?" The village leader shook his head.

"No, they very rarely are even seen around. For some reason, herds of them have been spotted making their way towards Hadarac Desert over the past few weeks; nobody knows why and, for the most part, nobody cares why, just so long as the Urgals leave them alone." By that time, several men had come foreword with the food and water; Trevor nodded in their direction and the men dropped down from the barrier and went to give it to the pirates while the archers overhead tensed, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

After they packed away the goods, they thanked the men and made their way out of town, feeling the archers and the eyes of hidden townsfolk watching their every step. "Wow, things are pretty bad here, haven't they?" Franky stated after they were outside of earshot. The rest nodded while Nami replied, "Yeah, only more reason to get this over with as soon as possible." With that said, they boldly began to make their way south of Daret for the long journey to Dras Leona.

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Along the way, the Straw Hats were educated on the land's history by (unsurprisingly) Robin, who had most, if not all, of the information that the old man had given them to. "So this king guy's name is…Galbatorocks?" Franky asked confused. Robin shook her head.

"His name's Galbatorix, not rocks. He lives in Uru'baen with his stolen dragon, the black Shruikan, and his former servants were the Forsworn, rogue Dragon Riders who followed him when he betrayed the Dragon Riders; however they've all been killed or dead at this point, with the last being Morzan." She spoke as if she were a teacher to a bunch of grade schoolers. The rest nodded, trying to memorize how to pronounce the names of these people and places.

"Moving on, the original group who started the Dragon Riders were the elves, who had been at war with them for a long time…"

"Elves?" Chopper said, eyes sparkling, with Luffy and Usopp close behind him; Robin just nodded.

"Yes, but there are also dwarves and the occasional giant."

"Wow!" Chopper cried with wonder in his eyes as he tried to imagine what the other worldly creatures looked like (his best image of a dwarf was a lawn gnome holding a pick axe.) while Luffy and Usopp joined in, tongues hanging in excitement.

"The concept has officially melted their minds." Zoro remarked while sweat dropping.

"Anyway," Robin said, trying to get the conversation back on track. "The Varden is the rebelling force against Galbatorix and having been doing so for the past few generations; their location is known only to a few people, but apparently they are working with the elves and will be sending Eragon to them whenever they can. But just because they work together and are on the same side, that doesn't mean that they won't try to gain dominance over Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, thus putting themselves in a greater standing if and when he beats the king. The dwarves are likewise." Most of the straw hats didn't really have the brain for politics, so they just nodded and hoped Robin would move on.

"So anyway, the Varden's location is at the Beor Mountains; at least, it was when the elderly man told us, but they might be on the move to Surda soon. Surda is a country outside of the Empire of Alagaesia and gives the appearance of neutrality, but it secretly supports the Varden."

"Next, we need to talk about magic." Chopper, Luffy, and Usopp's heads rose at this and looked excited while the rest snorted. "No, magic does exist in this world in the language simply referred to as 'the ancient language', due to its actual name being lost long ago isn't known. Magic here works on the principal that you can do whatever you want, so long as you know the words for the what you want to know, but you also have to have the strength to do it in real life." She said, while the rest just nodded; she sighed, knowing that they didn't (well, maybe Franky, Sanji, and Nami did). "Okay, one last time, and then we move onto the concept of true names…"

The days went by like that, with Robin explaining (much to the rest of the crew's displeasure; wasn't she supposed to be the one to know this, not them?) about the country's history, magic (she spent a lot of time in this area), and the races as well as the relationships with each other. By the time they actually got halfway to Dras Leona, they were sick of the traveling and brains were close to exploding.

"This…is…definitely worst then Alabasta." Luffy groaned as he collapsed onto his part of the ground of their current camp; the others just grunted in agreement as they collapsed. At the moment, they were still on a plain, but the grass was beginning to stiffen and dry, and The Spine was still to their left, but they gave way to the Toark River, almost to Leona Lake.

Sanji reluctantly got up to begin to cook while Nami started a fire; meanwhile, Robin was reading a book in the dying sunlight. After a half hour or so, Sanji had finished and the remainder of the crew reluctantly got up and went to grab the food…when Zoro, Franky, Sanji, and Robin quickly noticed something and jumped out of the way and went for their weapons. A rather grotesque being leaped out of the shadows and came into view of the firelight. It was huge, broad, with gray skin and tiny yellow eyes, along with huge curling, ram-like horns coming out of the iron skull cap it wore; its bulging muscles were visible from underneath the black chest plate it sported while it began to swing its rather short yet incredible sharp and ominous looking sword. The crew immediately jumped to action.

"Gum Gum Pistol!" Luffy announced as he swung his fist towards the creature, having it stretch with the force of a pistol, slamming into the Urgal's chest plate, pushing it back while it quickly tried to bring its sword at Luffy's extended arm…Zoro was there long before it could land the blow.

"Oni…" He dashed while slashing his three blades with a speed that was hardly visible. "…GRI!" he grunted as he finished the move, successfully slashing through the Urgal's dented chest plate and body, with blood spurted from it even before it fell down. "That was easy." Zoro said with his blade hilt in his mouth.

"Careful! Chances are, there's more then one." Robin said as she dusted off her cloak. Using the hana hana fruit, she quickly placed eyes in subtle locations surrounding the rest of the camp, to make sure that no one would be able to sneak up on them. After that was done, the straw hats went back towards the body of the Urgal.

"Where did it come from?" Nami asked while Luffy leaned down and stared at the creature's head, poking one of the horns. Robin could only shrug, while Sanji said while taking a drag from his pipe, "Well, that Trevor guy did say something about the Urgals heading off towards the desert…could this guy been left behind?"

Franky nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, but why would the Urgals be heading there anyway? I mean, from what Robin told us, they don't seem to be the most organizable of things, so why would all of them being going to the same place?" With that question hanging in the air, the Straw Hats went back to eating dinner, while quietly checking their surroundings, cautious to any intruders.

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The next day, only a little after noon, Dras Leona came into view. Even from fifty miles away, the city looked as though someone had just thrown a bunch of random buildings together…and had added huge gates out in front of the city, facing the straw hats. Anticipation gripped the group as the city entered their sights, and despite the rest of the farmers and people bringing cattle and crops to trade in the market there, the pirates made their horses go faster. "So here we go." Luffy grinned while the rest nodded…until Luffy's horse suddenly stopped, making him fly off in front of it…which lead to the others' horses tramping on him; he just groaned quietly while his horse began to happily chew on a cabbage merchant's produce.

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**And…that's it! I hope that it was worth the wait! By the way, if anyone has any advice on how to improve Luffy's yells at Yazuac, please let me know. Also, I'm sorry if someone's favorite Straw Hat didn't get that much speaking time, but I had to condense a month worth of traveling into one chapter and I'm not good with coming up with filler…which may explain why nothing I write is more then fifteen pages at best…. I wonder what kind of things the Straw Hats will discover at Dras Leona… **

**Read and Review! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey there, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer here. **

**I'M SO SORRY!!!!! (gets down on knees)**

**I'm so sorry that it has been so long since I last updated this story, but I can explain myself…sort of. Mostly, what distracted me was that annoying thing called school, as the teachers began to turn up the intensity as the end of the year loomed closer. Also, I've had other fanfics…most of which haven't worked out so well. Sigh.**

**Anyway, I've also been battling the enemy of every author: writer's block. Matter of fact, I was unable to finish this chapter due to being unsatisfied with it, but when I heard about Viz fast forwarding One Piece (by putting the latest chapters from Japan in Shonen Jump this fall-however, if they don't start releasing the volumes, I'm gonna be pissed), my inspiration soared! As soon as I could, I went back to working on this chapter.**

**I'm sorry if it isn't quite up to snuff, though. I tried to condense more or less two weeks of the Straw Hats living in Dras Leona, so…yeah. I guess that's it. On with the chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing outside a recently purchased volume 21.**

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**If You need a Sense of Direction, Why not Try a Compass?**

Dras Leona was not made with the idea of settlement in mind. No, the now infamous city of randomly positioned builds was originally made because the people who passed would be in awe of the mountainous HelGrind, whose four dark peaks seemed to touch the sky; however, the entire mountain and the area around it seemed to have a horribly malevolent aura around it, immediately making any passer-bys' hair perk slightly as they passed.

That aura of malevolence is what the Straw Hats first felt as they boldly approached the city, and despite the clear day, it seemed dark. "Do we have to come here?" Usopp asked. Nami nodded while glaring at the sharpshooter.

"Yes, we have to come here! We need to have some idea on where…" she shot a quick look at the traveling merchants and others who were either walking towards the city or hurrying away from it. "…_he _is, and Dras Leona is the only lead we have!"

"Uh oh! Guys, I getting my _we-better–not-go-into-that-town_ disease again!" Usopp said as he began to turn his horse the other way. "I'll wait for you out here."

"And do what? Sleep in the wild, with bears, wolves, and who knows what else out?" Nami called to the fleeing Usopp, who stopped in his tracks.

"…dammit." He muttered sadly as he slumped back towards the group. Besides that incident, the trip to the jumble of buildings that is considered a city was uneventful; the overall remainder of the trip took fifteen minutes. By the time they had gotten there, Nami and Robin, who had been working on a story in case they needed to lie their way into the city, had gotten ahead; fortunately, the guards were lazy and were just gazing at the crowd of people as they hurried in, as if putting forth just enough effort to appear to be working, but not enough to actually catch someone if they decided to walk in with a lit bomb.

"…wow…that was easy." The crew sweat dropped at the lack of effort on the guards' part. Things were going well so far. They quickly returned their attention to navigating the huge city streets; as it turned out, the streets were just about as organized as the buildings. The cobbled streets were riddled with groups of stones missing, sticking up farther then the rest, or were slanted. The buildings themselves were slightly slanted and dirty looking, with many windows boarded up and shingles missing; but that what was most appalling to Luffy were the people lying up against the buildings; most were missing limbs, some were just laying there, staring hopelessly at the passerby. The age range appeared to be ranging between age three to the elderly; all were barely clothed and the bones from their ribcages were apparent. Luffy just bit down on his lip and looked, fury that these people could just be ignored and left to die by their own people pissed him off…but he couldn't go wild here; he needed to appear not to care and just carry on….

He knew that and yet...it was just so damn hard; he glanced at the rest of his crew and saw that they felt the same.

After riding a ways, the scenery began to improve around them, with the roads and buildings looking fancier and improving in quality and, more importantly, there were no poor or homeless people just lying about. In some ways, this angered the pirate captain even more. Fortunately, he managed to keep his temper in check, but that didn't stop from shooting him a glare after noticing that his hands had curled into fists. Fortunately, the ride didn't last too long as they quickly went to the first inn they could find, _the Demtre._

_What an odd name_, the crew thought as Nami and Robin (officially deemed the most levelheaded and responsible of the crew at this point), entered to try and coax a few rooms out of the innkeeper. "So…what do you think of the town so far?" Usopp asked as they leaned against the cool stone wall of the fifty or so tall inn. This question was met with silence as the rest of the crew looked at him. "What?"

"It's just, how can you not be mad?"

Now Usopp was really confused, "Mad? Why? At what?"

"At the way these people are being treated, dumbass!" Sanji snapped. "How these bastards eat and sleep in a bed, they are totally ignoring the people that need help at the outer edge of the city!"

"You're right, but what can we do? We're only here to find this Eragon guy; there's no way that we would be able to help them without drawing unwanted attention to us by the Empire. For now, how about we just leave it as it is and see if we can do something later?"

"That's perfectly okay for you, isn't Usopp?! You always chicken out of doing anything!" Sanji scowled as he glared at Usopp…only to have Nami punch them both on the head even if she was nowhere to be seen; not only did this stop the fighting, but it managed to have both Sanji and Usopp ponder whether Nami had a Devil Fruit power or not.

Well, after a few more minutes, Nami and Robin finally emerged from the inn, looking slightly frustrated. "It took awhile, but we managed to get the land lord to give us a room. But, despite my charms, he only gave us one room." While Sanji looked thrilled, the rest groaned, already dreading the cramped room. Nami, meanwhile, looked scowled and a little surprised that sex appeal had failed her again; after all, she was the one who could even charm camels, dammit!

Sighing, the pirates gathered their goods and tied up their horses. Walking in a single file order (for once), they walked up the narrow stairs and began to find the room that the owner had set aside. When they opened the door, they found that their fears were justified; the room was roughly fifteen by twenty feet long. There was no nightstand. There was no dresser. Instead, there was a mattress in the center of the dirty, wooden floor. The two windows that were on the other side of the room, across from the door, were dirty and cracked. All in all, it was a place even Luffy wouldn't condemn the likes of Buggy to.

"Why do we have to stay in this piece of crap?" Luffy and Usopp looked pouting at Nami, while Chopper nervously glanced around the floor and bed, fearing possible infection.

"Sorry guys, but this is the best I could do; we don't have any money, remember?" Nami scowled. "I guess I'll just have to try and steal some."

"Good luck with that," Zoro snorted. "There aren't all that many people around here that have the kind of money you're looking for."

"I could always try to find a blacksmith place to work," Franky offered tentively, sensing the brooding atmosphere in the room. This line of thought seemed to perk some of the Straw Hats up.

"Yeah; I could always work in the kitchens somewhere," Sanji thought.

"I'll just bounty hunt again; it worked before," Zoro shrugged from his seat on the floor.

"My ass you will; you'd only get lost," Sanji sneered at the swordsman.

"What was that bastard?!"

"You heard me moss head!"

"You wanna fight?!" Zoro jumped to his feet and placed his scowling face mere inches from Sanji's; Sanji merely blew a smoke ring in his face. "That's it!" Zoro leaped at the cook, who shifted into a fighting position…only to get punched out by Nami.

"…again?" Sanji mumbled before his head nailed the floor.

"Idiots! Knock it off! We barely have room enough as it is! Much less space for a fight!" Nami groaned under her breath. "Anyway, we have a few hours of daylight left to look around; try to get a feel for the place while you can. See if there's anything you could do to get money." The rest of conscious crew nodded in agreement, and began to disperse. Chopper got together with Luffy and Usopp as they began to walk out of the room. Franky sighed and went off on his own, while Nami and Robin began to try and plan out just how the hell they were going to make it to Surda.

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"Luffy." Usopp asked his friend, as they were walking along yet another uneven street. Luffy said nothing, but continued to press forward, all the while keeping his gaze straight ahead.

"Luffy?" Chopper asked concerned; still, the captain's silence continued. The reindeer and Usopp shared a glance. Sighing, Usopp walked closer to his friend and asked again.

"Luffy! Are you still mad about that argument earlier or something?" Luffy didn't look at the sharpshooter; instead, he focused on the rocks that were lying on the street.

"…it just isn't right." He looked up and the intensity of his gaze caused Usopp to shrink back slightly. "It isn't right! No one has the right to own slaves! Not a single one of these bastards…. Yet, they do nothing; if anything, they enjoy the slaves' misery. I want to put an end to that." He scowled, angered that his adventure had to be stained by slavery.

Chopper looked at his captain with admiration while Usopp merely sighed, "Look, I feel the same that you do. It's just that we can't afford to bring attention to ourselves…" He saw the look on Luffy's face: never yielding and unrelenting. Sighing again, he continued, "So let's make sure we don't get caught." He remarked with resign. "But don't expect me to come along." Luffy grinned then.

"Gotcha." After that, the three of them started walking again, ignoring the nervous glances of the wealthy people around them.

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By nightfall, the Straw Hats all had returned to their tiny room. By the time they had arrived, Nami had Sanji tied up and had hung a blanket from the ceiling, dividing the room vertically. Naturally, she had given herself and Robin the larger half, while leaving the six men to fend for themselves. Not in the least surprised, the men just took it all in stride. After a quick dinner of cold bread and some meat, the pirates began to speak of their day's successes…or lack thereof, as the case turned out to be.

Franky mentioned that he had managed to get a job at a smithy, if only for awhile. However, as it turned out, he was the only real success story, as no one really expected Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp to actually work, and Sanji and Zoro had been knocked out most of the afternoon. Nami and Robin had managed to get a whooping total of jack information at the tavern, so they were planning on trying to move in on a bar closer to the guard towers; after all, drunk soldiers were much more likely to spill the type of info that the two women were looking for.

While she was explaining this to the rest of the crew, she noticed the suspicious look on Luffy and Chopper's faces. Narrowing her eyes in their general direction, she went on to say, "We really shouldn't attempt anything really risky just yet; we need some time to earn money and try and find a spec of information." The two crewmates suddenly began sweating; both man and reindeer were wonder whether Nami could really read minds or not.

After that, the crew merely went to sleep for the night. Together, they ignored Sanji's hisses and threats for someone to untie him; they were all well aware of what he would have attempted to do. So, deciding that they didn't want to die young, they slept on.

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As the days went by, the amount of success began to increase, with Franky and Sanji beginning to pool in cash; Sanji was currently cooking for the governor himself, while Franky was making stuff not only for the guards, but for the wealthy as well. While the two pirates didn't like giving the nobles their goods, they couldn't deny that the pay was good…and that Nami probably would have killed them, had they quit.

Zoro, true to his word, went about his business, trying to track down bounties that authorities knew were in the area, but had no clue as to where. However, despite having a high success rate, Sanji's prediction proved accurate when Zoro would end up having to spend days at a time trying to find the specific inn they were staying at.

Meanwhile, Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper continued to look around town. While Luffy and Chopper were plotting to free slaves, Usopp occasionally contributed, but only did so while he could still claim deniability when it all went to hell. As they asked around, they learned something that put an immediate halt on those plans.

"Didn't you guys hear?" a shop keeper asked, surprised. "The Church of Hel Grind is holding a ceremony tomorrow; they are trying to summon Hel Grind's aid, as they are currently being threatened. As the war escalates, people begin trying to get rebellious and idealistic; they begin to due away with oppressive things, such as cultish religions. So, they are buying all the slaves in town, trying to appease Hel Grind to save them. What they are going to do with the slaves, I can only guess, but…" he glanced at Luffy with a sad look. "Tomorrow night is the full moon and, typically that is when they send two sacrifices to Hel Grind…" he let the three pirates finish the trail of thought.

A mixture of emotions filled them, most of which were disgust and anger. "Are the sacrifices killed?" Usopp managed to ask.

The shop keeper shrugged, "Hell if I know; they are just sent out to the rock and are never heard from again. I doubt that the Church kills them, but the people they send out to the rock disappear, and no one really knows why." Shrugging, he went back to fixing his produce stacks. Sensing that they had gathered all the information that they would need, the three left and began to head back to the inn.

After a few minutes of stunned silence, Usopp finally spoke up, "…you know Nami would never approve of what you are going to do."

"I don't give a damn." Luffy said adamantly. Chopper nodded in firm agreement, all the while keeping the hood covering his face.

Usopp just sighed, "…fine. I'd recommend recruiting Zoro and Sanji; whatever is killing those slaves is obviously tough, and Franky can't do as much since he can't get cola here. Sanji has work and Nami would be suspicious of him anyway…." Luffy merely nodded, ignoring the fact that Usopp hadn't volunteered; he had to have a plan of some sort…right? It hurt the captain to be so suspicious of one of his best friends, but it still angered him slightly that the sharpshooter would leave those people to die, simply for the sake of the mission.

However, he did as Usopp suggested. Fortunately, Zoro hadn't gone bounty hunting yet (they wouldn't see him for three days if he had), and when Luffy had explained what was going on, and what he thought they should do about it, Zoro nodded in agreement. Grinning, Luffy, Chopper, and Zoro began to plan for the next day. Figuring that the slaves would be left near the rock at night, the three pirates began to figure that they would simply follow the procession as they left. However, to do that, they had to learn where they would be and when they were going to leave.

After some more investigating, the trio learned that the Church procession would be sending the mass of slaves out to Hel Grind at dusk, right when evening would be starting; apparently, they didn't want to risk themselves falling to Hel Grind, despite their devotion. It took awhile, but after Zoro beat up a few people, the location managed to become apparent: the slaves were going to be taken through southern gate; the closest to Hel Grind.

That night, Luffy, Zoro, and Chopper were on their best behavior and, had Nami not been tired from all the flirting she had done that day, she probably would have suspected something was up. As it was, Robin picked up on their strange, refined behavior. However, she decided to let it go, as even she didn't figure the scale of what the trio was about to attempt; instead, she decided to make sure that everything was packed, in case they would have to make a quick exit.

However, despite the mission he was about to undertake being the next day, Luffy immediately fell asleep as soon as he hit the floor. Zoro was snoring even before then. Only Chopper found himself unable to sleep as he felt the excitement pulsing through his tiny body. The reindeer spent the night running through scenarios…and most of them involved him saving the day. He blushed and grinned at the thought of:

_"Good Job Chopper! You saved us!" _

_"We couldn't have done it without you!" _

Naturally, he would reply in kind:

_"Nonsense! Your compliments have no effect on me, bastards!"_

Grinning to himself, he continued to plan out his victory, even as the sun rose and the rest of the crew hesitantly woke up. One by one, the Straw Hats awoke. Whenever some one woke up, they would grab some breakfast, and then walk out. Mostly, this was Franky and Sanji, who had actual jobs at the time, and were providing most of the current income.

Following them, Nami and Robin slowly shook themselves awake and got changed. On their way out, they would take a quick bite to eat. Once Chopper heard the door close, he slowly sat up, only to have the lack of sleep take a toll on him. It caused him to lie back down, mumbling, and he even went to bed for real that time.

Hours later, it was Usopp who woke him up. "Chopper." He whispered. "Chopper! Wake up!" He groaned slightly as he saw that his words were having no effect, he knelt down next to his ear, "They are giving out free cotton candy!" Slowly but surely, the reindeer got up, his head scanning the room hurriedly, trying to spot the said cotton candy. Usopp ignored him and moved on to Zoro.

With much effort, he eventually managed to coax the captain and swordsman awake, especially after he told them what time it was.

"WHAT?! It's six o'clock?!" they demanded. As they glanced out the window, they saw that the sun was slowly setting. Not waiting to hear Usopp explain why he hadn't woken them earlier, they dashed out the door and out of the inn.

Unfortunately, Luffy and Zoro had no real idea of where to go. "What way is south again?" Luffy asked; Zoro merely shrugged as they continued to run down a street.

"You guys don't know?!" Chopper yelled, shocked.

"How are we supposed to know what way is south? That's Nami's job!" Luffy yelled back. Chopper merely rolled his eyes and then glanced at the sun. Using it's direction of the west, he adjusted their course so that they would be heading in a southern direction.

After much running and dodging, he eventually managed to lead Luffy and Zoro to the southern gate. Unfortunately for them, the gate had been shut already; the slaves were on their way. The three merely shared a glance.

Luffy and Zoro managed to open door and, together, they began to make their way through the woods that surrounded that area. Fortunately, it was pretty easy to see what way the slaves went via the broken branches and stamped down grass. While Luffy and Zoro went on ahead, Chopper noticed that visibility was steadily decreasing. Concerned, he pulled out the perfume that he had stolen from Nami's bag earlier that day. He began to spray it behind him, creating a path his nose could follow back to the gate.

Not noticing this, Luffy and Zoro merely stormed ahead, trying to run as fast as they could, all the while trying to be quiet as well. After running for twenty minutes, they finally managed to reach the clearing that was filled with hundreds of people, all chained together. The people appeared to be in rather poor condition; most of them were missing clothes and even limbs. All of them were dirty, and looked as though they hadn't eaten in weeks…which they probably hadn't. The three pirates hid behind a bush and glanced around, noticing that the chains eventually led to the base of the mountain. The light at that time was all but gone; they had probably five minutes at best before nightfall officially fell.

"So we're going to rip the chains off the mountain, right?" Luffy quietly asked.

Zoro shook his head, "Before that, we have to try and unchain the people from each other; how are they going to run while being all connected to one another?" Satisfied with that reasoning, Luffy and Zoro began to slowly sneak into the clearing, only to notice that Chopper wasn't following. "Chopper?" Captain and swordsman turned towards their friend, who was now lying on the grass, clasping his noise while shuddering slightly. "Chopper!"

They rushed to his side. "What's wrong?!"

"Th…that…mountain…" he quietly gasped. "…i…it…reeks…o…of…"

"Reeks of what?" Luffy asked, confused.

"Of Death!" the reindeer hissed. "The stench is so overwhelming! That must truly be a hell like no other…" he groaned. "Sorry guys; I can't do anything right now." He slumped, filled with both shame and fear. Luffy put a hand on his shoulder.

"No worries! You did good; you just wait here, and show us the way back when we're done, 'kay?" he grinned. Chopper nodded unhappily. After that, Luffy and Zoro returned to the job at hand. They began to sneak through the grass and reach the first of the slaves.

A slave closest to them suddenly began to look around; she had heard the pirates' shuffling. Worried that it may be a monster or something, she began to raise alarm among her fellows, who also began to panic. Luffy glared at Zoro as the commotion level began to rise; Zoro merely sighed. "Okay then; we'll go with plan B." he said, standing up and drawing one of his swords. Luffy smirked and rushed over to the mountain, where the chain's end was.

As he leaped out of the darkness, the girl shrieked and began trying to kick up, disrupting her partner, who then disrupted the person he was attached to, and so on. Quickly, every slave there knew that someone had finally appeared. While they were not completely sure if it was the mysterious monster who made people disappear or not, they didn't know; however, they didn't want to take their chances. Swiftly, they began to attack Luffy, throwing weak punches that he easily dodged. Eventually, he managed to weave through enough people that he had reached the side of the mountain; in the process, he had managed to clump up the slaves, as most of them tried to get him before he could attack them. From there, he brought his fist down on both the main chain links, severing them from the black mountain's side. The people were shocked; they hadn't expected this turn of events! Most of them had given up hope, but after seeing the main chain shattered, a little hope began to return to them.

While they were distracted with Luffy, Zoro then silently appeared behind them. Preparing himself, he quickly launched himself in an incredibly fast and difficult maneuver: he began to weave through the crowd, shattering the linking chains between them. The swordsman managed to do so with such speed and skill, that the slaves didn't even notice what was happening until the shackles fell to the ground, sliced open.

Their eyes widened. Their minds not comprehending what had just happened. One elderly man slowly lifted his wrist, examining the now clear wrist with a look of awe. Slowly, he turned his gaze on the duo next to the rock. "What are you doing?" he asked slowly. "Why are you freeing us?"

"Giving you your freedom!" Luffy smiled.

"But why?"

Luffy and Zoro glanced at each other and shrugged, "It was the right thing." They simply said. These words spread throughout the crowd and, slowly, they began to grin. Some even shouted for joy as the full implications of what the pirates had done hit them. Slowly, the former slaves began to get organized and figure out what they were going to next. Some even began to suspect that this is what happened to all the slaves who got sent to Hel Grind. All in all, it was a very happy moment…until Chopper began to moan.

The reindeer was shivering now, his hooves gripping his nose tightly. Suddenly, the atmosphere froze. The temperature had suddenly seemed to fall drastically; it even made Luffy check to see if he could see his breath. However, he couldn't see it. Then screams began to break out as some of the slaves began to collapse, blood spilling everywhere.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!!" Zoro yelled out as Luffy looked around, trying to dodge the fleeing slaves as they sprinted for the woods. Suddenly, the pirate captain noticed a shadow that seemed to be moving.

"ZORO! GET DOWN!" The two dodged and multiple arrows flew over their heads. Quickly, they glanced up and saw the two, cloak wearing beings that had attacked them and the slaves.

The Ra'zac had arrived.

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**Whoa! A cliffy! I didn't see that coming! Sorry if you didn't like it (I've waited ten months for this piece of crap?!), but I thought it was decent. If you disagree though, feel free to let your feelings be heard in a review; all you need to do is tell me where I went wrong. Once again, I'm so sorry that it's taken me this long to get my crap in order, but I hope that you'll forgive me. **

**Anyway, the next update should probably come out late next week or so. Thanks for reading!**

**Read and Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey there, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer here!**

**Sorry the chapter was a little late; I've been busier than I had predicted I would be. Anyway, I'm happy that some of you were kind enough to review, especially Xtremo3000. Any kind of comment is appreciated! **

**Now, on with the Fanfiction!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing…if I did, One Piece would've been fast forwarded a long time ago.**

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**Getting Out of Dodge**

Luffy couldn't take his eyes off the creatures that had appeared before them. Despite it being dark and nigh impossible to see them, the Ra'zac seemed to suck in the darkness around them. They were making odd clicking noises as they continued to gaze at the now struck Zoro and Luffy. For some reason, their gaze seemed to unconsciously shake up the pirates, almost like the affects of Haki.

There was pure silence in the clearing; the slaves that had survived the Ra'zac's arrival had long since fled, and the only other witness was Chopper, who was at that time, clutching his sensitive nose, as he hid behind a bush. The strong odor of death that Mount Helgrind had given off (which had been enough to force the reindeer to collapse) was nothing compared to sheer intense reek of corpses the Ra'zac gave off. After a few seconds of silence, a visibly shaken Zoro asked, "What the hell…are those things?"

For once, Luffy had no retort; and even he had, it would have been lost as the Ra'zac drew their swords and leaped at the two. "Damn it!" was all Luffy had time to say as the two cloaked figures attacked. Fortunately, Zoro managed to pull himself together and had blocked both the attacks with his swords. At this point, Luffy managed to shake himself from his revere and rushed at the enemy while Zoro held them at bay. "Gum Gum PISTOL!" The pirate captain yelled as he tried to hit the enemy. His fist stretched back and then came flying towards one of the Ra'zac. However, just before the fist slammed into it, the creature dodged with incredible speed. Unfortunately, there wasn't time to gawk, as the second raised its foot and kicked Zoro with enough force to make him cough blood and sent the swordsman flying back. The first Ra'zac launched itself towards the now airborne Zoro, sword held at the ready.

Zoro saw this and tried to dodge in midair; the sword missed him by centimeters. Hissing, the Ra'zac quickly adjusted the blade's path and swung it with incredible speed; Luffy blinked and the blade was gone. Thankfully, Zoro's instincts kicked in and he managed to get one of his swords in the way. By that time, he had managed to get his feet on the ground.

Meanwhile, while Luffy was distracted with Zoro's plight, the second Ra'zac launched itself at him. Luffy just barely dodged the blade as it arced horizontally over his head. Immediately, he bent his knees and threw himself at the creature, giving it an uppercut. The force of the blow sent it off its feet and it flew several inches back. Luffy cursed while waving his hand; the bastard's chin was _hard_!

The Ra'zac quickly got to its feet and crouched, glaring at the pirate from under its hood. Luffy stretched his arm back, "Gum Gum pistol…" he repeated and, once again, the creature threw itself to the side. "SHOTGUN!!" Luffy yelled out and the radius of his attack increased at the last second, clipping the Ra'zac and sending it back down to its knees. "Hah! Take that, bastard!" Luffy smirked.

Overall, the fight had lasted about half a minute.

Chopper was still lying on the ground, quivering. However, the intensity of it had gone down as he began to adapt to the scent. He was able to get to his knees now. The reindeer peaked around the bush and, thanks to his naturally powerful eyes and nose, could just barely make out the creatures that his friends were fighting. An instinctual fear gripped him, but he managed to force it down. There was something definitely unnatural about them; they were sure as hell not human. If he squinted, the doctor found that he could see the lump of a beak beneath the hood of the creature Luffy was up against.

Quickly seeing that Luffy was holding his own, Chopper shifted his gaze to the fight between Zoro and the other Ra'zac. Normally, Zoro probably could have taken the creature no problem, but with its speed and darkness, it was almost impossible to see the bastard, much less hit it. So, at the moment, it was all Zoro could do to block. At this point, the Ra'zac had set itself into a pattern of attack: it would simply dodge Zoro's attack, then leap in and strike, then jump back and blend into the night. It merely kept doing this, circling around the swordsman, launching random attacks at his back or his side whenever his attention was elsewhere.

"You…know…"Zoro grunted, speaking despite the third sword in his mouth. "I'm…really…getting…sick of you!!" he shifted his stance and swung his other two swords, knocking the Ra'zac's blade aside, then threw himself at it, slashing at it with the blade in his mouth. The Ra'zac shrieked as Zoro's sword sliced it across its left side, ripping some of its cloak off. "Bleeding the Wolf!" he announced (or maybe, Chopper thought, it was merely the subtitles that showed up whenever he used any of his moves)

The other Ra'zac immediately turned around, hearing its companion's shriek, giving Luffy an opening. Luffy threw himself at the creature, wrapping himself around it in the process. Its head immediately swiveled so it could see the pirate, whose head was now stretched back. It shrieked and tried to stab him with its sword, only to have Zoro knock the blade out its hand. "Gum Gum Bell!" Luffy yelled and slammed his head into the Ra'zac. Its neck seemed to bend (similar to how Luffy's would, but he was made of rubber) as the Ra'zac's head was forced back due to the force of Luffy's blow, leaving it temporarily paralyzed; however, Luffy was unable to follow up his attack, since the Ra'zac's skull was harder then he thought. While he rubbed away the blood that was slowly dripping down his face, both the Ra'zac quickly regrouped and stood back to back.

Zoro, meanwhile, helped Luffy to his feet and turned to face their opponents. The Ra'zac showed no signs of being tired, but Zoro and Luffy were panting a little. "They're not so tough," Zoro remarked to Luffy, who nodded in agreement. Chopper could only stare in awe at his friends; even with his sight, he could barely track the Ra'zacs movements in the dark. Yet here his friends were, fighting them as if they were no big deal! Suddenly, the Ra'zac began to click their beaks at a faster rate, eventually growing into a simultaneous shriek.

"What the hell are they doing?" Luffy asked quizzing. Zoro merely shrugged. Suddenly, a new scent met Chopper's nose and he flinched. The sound of wings beating filled the air, coming from above. The two pirates quickly glanced upward, only to see two huge shapes surging down from the top of the mountain. Quickly, Zoro and Luffy threw themselves aside, just barely dodging the two shapes landing. Zoro managed to throw himself into the woods, near Chopper, while Luffy landed closer to the Ra'zac. He looked up and gasped in disgust as he saw what had landed before him. Both of the creatures were dark, with leathery, taut skin and four limbs. At the end of each limb was a claw with incredibly sharp nails that seemed to be dripping some kind of liquid. Their large eyes were filled with rage and their beaks stretched out to roughly seven feet each.

While Luffy was distracted, one of the Ra'zac launched itself at the captain. It had lost its sword and was forced to lunge with its beak and managed to get Luffy on the shoulder. The pirate screamed as pain flared up within him, the wound even simmering. "How could its beak do that?!" Chopper nervously hissed to Zoro, "We've got to get that wound cleaned as soon as possible before infection sets in!"

"On it." Zoro said as he jumped out of the forest and stabbed the Ra'zac that was now trying to kill Luffy. The Ra'zac shrieked, which got the weird flying creatures' attention and they lunged at Zoro and Luffy as they dashed into the woods. Fortunately, the trees managed to slow down the creatures, since they had to knock down every tree in their path to go after the pirates. Seeing this, the other Ra'zac dashed after them, moving faster than before. It jumped over rocks and sliced down branches when they were in its way as it quickly began to catch up to the pirates.

As Zoro and Luffy followed Chopper (who had thought ahead and had sprayed the way back to Dras Leona with perfume earlier), they could make out the shape of the tailing Ra'zac. At the same time, they could also make out the sound of wings beating as the flying creatures from earlier flew above the forest.

"Damn it! How did this go straight to hell?!" Zoro snarled as the frustration set in. Luffy could merely shrug and keep running. At this point, Luffy's wound was beginning to fill him full of wooziness and he stumbled. Zoro immediately noticed and, while running, grabbed the captain and threw him onto the back of Chopper's reindeer form. "Carry him!"

"Okay!" Chopper agreed and began trying to increase his speed. After only five minutes of running, the pirates found themselves in the clearing outside the gate into Dras Leona; unfortunately for them, the Ra'zac was nearly upon them. About halfway to the slightly open gate, the creature lunged at them.

"Go!" Zoro ordered and turned to face it…only to hear the words "Firebird Star!" called out. He turned to look and saw a fire ball in the shape of a flaming Phoenix fly from the guard tower and went soaring straight at the Ra'zac, nailing it head on. Taking advantage of the moment of distraction, the swordsman threw himself into Dras Leona and shut the gate behind him. After taking a few seconds to calm down, he looked up and saw that Chopper must have gone on ahead with Luffy. He hoped that the reindeer doctor would be able to help him. Meanwhile, Zoro had another concern on his mind…, "Sogeking?!" he called, knowing that he was the only one able to do an attack like that.

"Yes!" came a confident reply from above. The swordsman looked up and saw that he was already on his way down from the tower. "You called?" he asked after he had reached Zoro. Sogeking was holding his giant, dial-filled weapon 'Kabuto' and had on a cape and that ridiculous mask that he always wore…that had a hole for his long nose.

"What the hell are you doing here, Usopp?!" Zoro demanded while glaring at the marksman.

"I felt bad about not helping Luffy, so I decided to scale the tower and help from above if I could." Usopp replied, taking his Sogeking mask off.

"Whatever." Zoro grumbled. "Thanks anyway."

"No problem. But what the hell was that thing? It didn't look human." Usopp remarked as they made their way back to the inn.

"It sure as hell wasn't! I don't know what it was, but it had another one with it, and these two flying freaks with beaks!" Zoro said.

"Really?! Glad I wasn't there." Usopp sighed with relief.

"How brave of you." Zoro sweat dropped. There was some silence for a few seconds, until Usopp spoke up again.

"So…why was Luffy riding on Chopper? Did he get hurt or something?"

"Urk!" Zoro suddenly remembered Luffy's injury. "Yeah! We need to get back the room!" He began sprinting off, concern for his captain evident.

"Wait up Zoro! Hey! That's the wrong way! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!!" Usopp yelled as he followed.

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However, by the time Usopp and Zoro managed to get back to the inn, they wished they could fight the Ra'zac again. It would have been better than facing the sheer amount of anger steaming off Nami. The two shared a quick nervous glance, but entered the room anyway.

As they entered, they noticed that everyone was awake, with Chopper bending over the injured Luffy, surrounded by his supplies. The others had moved themselves to the other half of the room, with some looking nervous, while others looked frustrated. Nami, meanwhile, reached over and grabbed Zoro and Usopp and dragged them towards her.

"WHAT. THE. HELL. WERE. YOU. THINKING?!!!" she demanded.

"Well…" Zoro bravely spoke up; meanwhile, Usopp had already activated his Ketchup Star and was playing dead.

"Not only did you risk blowing our cover, but one of you could have died!"

"Chopper already told you what happened?" Zoro asked, surprised.

"Of course! At least he can use his brain, unlike you! God, I swear I'm going to…" She was interrupted by Robin, who came forward and looked at Zoro.

"Could you describe the things you fought?"

Zoro shrugged the best he could, "Kinda tall. They had these weird black cloaks and seemed to suck in the darkness around them. Plus, they shrieked and made clicking noises with these beak things. There were also these freaky flying things, with huge beaks and claws."

Robin nodded, as if it made sense.

"What, you know what they were?"

"Yes. The two humanoid figures you fought were called the Ra'zac; they are Galbatorix's minions and get sent after Dragon Riders. Their parents and mounts are called the Lethrblaka. They are the last known members of their race, which the Dragon Riders wiped out while they were in power. They are what killed the old man, and are Eragon's targets."

Zoro gave her a skeptical glance, but merely shrugged again. By this time, Nami had let go of them and Usopp had fallen to the ground, continuing his charade. Nami was hard at work trying to calculate the possible consequences that the incident could unveil. "How's Luffy doing?" she asked Chopper, who didn't even look up from his patient.

"Not good. I don't know what the hell that Ra'zac thing had in its mouth, but it seemed to burn right through the skin and muscle tissues and almost kept on going until I managed to put some of the salve in it. Fortunately, it hasn't gotten infected yet, but the motion that Luffy will have with his left arm will be limited. Plus, it will take a few days for his recovery."

"Okay…that's kinda what I figured." She motioned to everyone else to come closer so they could hear her. "Okay guys…we're going to have to act as if nothing has happened. If the Ra'zac really are Galbatorix's guys, then there is sure to be some kind of consequence that'll come about; whether it be bounties or something else, we pretend as if we know nothing about it." She turned to Zoro. "You are going to have to stop bounty hunting, as the main office is sure to have yours laying around sooner or later; having green hair doesn't help at all.

"Meanwhile, Franky and Sanji will have to keep on working. If anything, to make it seem as if they don't have anything to do with the crazies who defied the Empire. Robin and I are almost done researching and we have managed to piece together what happened here with Eragon and Brom. Meanwhile, Usopp is going to go around, buying supplies for our exit. After we're done with that, the plan is too simply haul ass to Surda and the Varden. Everyone got that? Good!" The rest of the crew seemed to understand and the meeting was broken for the night. Everyone tried to get as much sleep as they could in the few hours left of the night, knowing that tomorrow was sure to be eventful in some shape or form.

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True to their shared predictions, when Sanji and Franky were making way to their usual jobs, they heard and saw the town's guards jumping knocking on every door and asking them if they had seen the people on the posters they had with them. From the brief glances that Sanji could get, the drawings were pretty accurate, complete with Moss Head's green hair and Luffy's scar under his eye. However, he just made his way over to the Governor's palace, in the center of the city. Overall, the building quality had increased, with no homeless people in sight. The inn itself was pretty classy, complete with the latest candle technology; to anyone else, it may have seemed to be in the hippest of style. To Sanji, it was so ancient, it was annoying.

Still, it didn't bother him that much; after all, cooking didn't actually require that much in technology that a cook couldn't do himself. He just needed a fire, a pan of some sort, and ingredients. Rolling up his sleeves, he puffed his pipe (a poor substitute to his cigarettes, but he was slowly getting used to it) and began to get to work. Hell, with enough effort, he could pretend that he was on the Thousand Sunny, instead of standing in a tiny section of a palace, working with an ancient oven that required actual firewood and constant maintence.

"Hey!" spoke up Ethadel, another cook in the kitchen. "Did you hear the news?"

Sanji merely shrugged as he glanced over the list of food stuffs that they needed to make for a feast later that evening, "No. What about?"

"About those thieves that tried to steal and kill the Church of Helgrind's slaves. Fortunately, a few of the slaves managed to get away and tell the guard what happened and described the thieves to them. They've been going around, asking people about them. Apparently, they fetch a pretty fair bounty! Three hundred gold each!" The young man looked excited at the thought. "Bounty hunters from all over aren't going to turn down a reward like that, you know?"

Sanji chuckled, "Yeah, you got a point there." _So that's how the Empire twisted the story. Guess the general public doesn't know that the Ra'zac live in Helgrind…interesting. The kid's got a point though; bounty hunters are sure not at least attempt to get a reward like that. Leave it to Moss Head to go and screw things up. _Sanji thought. The cook sighed and then looked over the list again. "Damn it! We don't have nearly enough ingredients to make this crap!" He picked up the kitchen's money pouch and began to walk out the door. "Ethadel! I'm going to the market!"

"Okay!" the apprentice called out as Sanji left the building. The cook began to walk down the stone road, going at a slow pace. After all, he really didn't have that much initiative to get this done. As he slowly took a drag from his pipe, he glanced up. He had noticed that most people looked at him funny; he normally chalked it up to his swirly eyebrow, but he figured that wasn't the case this time. It was probably due to his blond hair color; he had noticed that there were barely, if any blond haired people that were not born of nobility around here. He smirked slightly at the thought, imagining the ways that he could use their assumptions to his advantage. However, he was broken from his musings by a rather panicked looking Franky running the other way.

"Oye! Franky! What's wrong?" The cyborg stopped and his steel nose could just barely be seen from under his hood.

"Curly Cook! I was just going to get you!" Franky panted. "I just heard that the Empire's put the hit out on Straw Hat and Swordsman!"

"Yeah, I know. Just like Nami predicted. So what?"

The ship wright rolled his eyes, "Don't you see what that means? That means bounty hunters and lots of them. I just overheard of an attempt to collect…some wannabe bounty hunters managed to track down our inn!"

"What?! How did they find out?!"

"Well, having Reindeer Gorilla run around with Straw Hat on his back didn't help matters. They weren't very careful about who they asked for information on the slaves in the first place." Franky rolled his eyes dramatically. "I thought they were smarter than that. Plus, with the bribes these guys claimed they were giving out, no wonder the inn keeper cracked!"

"Shit!" Sanji cursed. "Franky! We need to haul ass back to the inn and get to Luffy before they do!"

"Obviously!" The two pirates quickly began to sprint down the road, causing pedestrians to hurl themselves out of their way.

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However, by the time they showed up at the inn, they knew that they were too late. Maybe it was the unconscious body lying in the street. Or maybe the vaguely human shaped hole in the wall gave it away. Whatever the reason, the pirates saw Nami and Robin trying to organize the others in packing the horses. "Nami!" Sanji called.

"Sanji, Franky, get on!" She ordered, tossing reins in their direction. "The inn keeper overheard the fighting and sent for the guard! All because a certain _someone_ couldn't subtlety knock someone out to save his live!" she glared at Zoro, who scowled.

"The guy woke me up." Was all he muttered in his defense. By that time, Sanji and Franky managed to get on their mounts and the crew began to get the hell out of dodge. Unfortunately, the horses were slow starting, and Luffy wasn't doing so hot; he was forced to ride on Chopper in reindeer form, while they used Luffy's horse as a pack mule.

The guard, for once in its life, had managed to get their act together quickly and was already trying to surround the crew as they forced their steeds to rush towards the currently closing gates. "Hey, this feels familiar." One guard muttered to himself as he tried to close the gate.

The guard even managed to get some archers ready to go and they were raining constant fire down upon the fleeing Straw Hats. Fortunately for the pirates, the archers were pretty bad shots and, when the occasional arrow went on target, Usopp managed to come through and shoot it down using his slingshot. At this point, the regular people had pressed themselves up against buildings and under stands, trying to stay out of the crossfire.

By the time the pirates were almost at the entrance/exit, the gates were almost fully closed (they had been open to the outside, with them being in the 'push open' position on the inside of the city). "Franky!" Robin yelled.

"Got it!" Franky reluctantly called out. He let go of the horse's reins and raised both his arms at the closing gates. After filling his lungs and forearms with air, he yelled out "Coup de Vent!!" The sudden air 'cannon' was launched at the gates, forcing them open with its force. The guards could only stare in awe; murmurs of 'magic' and 'sorcery' spread throughout the guard as the Straw Hats made their way out of the city. One thing was certain though: there was no way they could stop now. The only place left they could go now was the Varden. So, with this knowledge, they headed out in a vaguely south east direction.

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He awoke. He looked around at his surroundings, still drowsy from sleep. He then sat up, pain coursing through him from the wounds he had recently received that the healers hadn't quite gotten to. Gritting his teeth, he slowly managed to drag himself out of the bed and walked over to pick up his pants. After which, he yanked on his boots and shirt and staggered his way out of his room. He figured that he had to face the real world at some point, so why bother dragging it out? He looked from above at the battlefield, where mountains of dead bodies still lay, even three days after the battle had taken place...the Battle for the Varden, as he had come to think of it.

He could make out Saphira's form as she flew around towers and helped in anyway that she could. He himself was allowed a little reprieve from following her example. After all, it wasn't everyday that one killed a Shade.

Eragon merely shrugged and, after picking up Zar'roc, went out to face the day.

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…**and that's a wrap! **

**While I am a little effie on the fight scene at the beginning, I'm more worried about keeping everyone in character, especially Franky still. So, any advice on either would be greatly appreciated! **

**On another note, has anyone heard any news on the fast forward thing? I mean, I heard that the Funimation simultaneous cast of the latest One Piece episodes in Japan thing got cancelled as some dude leaked an episode and all, but so far, I've heard nothing on the manga.**

**Personally, I think that I'm going to wait for the next Shonen Jump issue; if Viz doesn't announce anything then, I think that they may have backed out of it. If so, then I think we should let them know that they should still go ahead with it, you know? Whether it be via their Myspace page or something. What do you guys think? **

**Anyway, thanks for reading! **

**READ AND REVIEW**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer here!**

**First of all…I'm very, very sorry about how long it took to get this chapter done. Not only did life catch up with me, between work and other commitments, I found that I did not have the free time I once had. Fortunately, I should be able to get the next chapter out either by the end of the month or early August. **

**Second, I have wonderful news on the One Piece manga front…(I'm sure most of you have already heard, but I'm going to tell you anyway)…we are going to get volumes 24-53 of One Piece in SIX MONTHS! Being released at FIVE A MONTH, starting in JANUARY 2010!!!! Also, the latest chapters from Japan will be published in Shonen Jump starting in the January issue.**

**Isn't that awesome?!!**

**Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to the following readers: Xtremo3000, Alice, and ml7. It was your encourage comments and advice that helped me get this chapter out. I hope you enjoy it. **

**On with the Chapter!!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing…outside of some copies of the One Piece manga.**

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**Crossover**

It was dark in Eragon's bedroom. The shades were drawn and his door locked. Not even a candle to light up the darkness was in use; only the occasional burst of flame from Saphira lifted the darkness and even those were far and between. After yesterday, the dragon rider didn't wish to be met with anyone. Not only had he passed out again due to his back, but….

Eragon groaned to himself as he lay under his covers; his back just kept acting up at the most inconvenient of times. After Durza, the Shade he had just barely managed to kill, had sliced his back open, it had constantly struck at Eragon, filling him with pain enough to knock him out. Despite all the medications and potions he took from Angela, it didn't seem to have improved at all.

However, right that second, his dully throbbing back was the least of his problems. Yesterday morning, his friend and the leader of the Varden (aka, the only hope for Alagaesia to possibly rid itself of its tyrant king, Glabatorix), Ajihad, had been killed in battle. After the fierce Battle for the Varden four days ago (was it really only four? It felt like an eternity since then), where countless good men and dwarves alike fell to the Urgal onslaught, Ajihad had taken it upon himself to lead an expedition into the tunnels that wired throughout the bottom of Farthen Dur, the current base of the Varden and home to the Dwarf capital, Tronijheim. Tronijiheim itself was a beautiful marble city, built into the Boer mountains, in a place where no one would find it unless they were looking for it.

Anyway, Ajihad had led the expedition team to try and kill the last of the fleeing Urgals before they could report back to their master, the mad king Glabatorix. Among his team was Murtagh, a very good friend of Eragon's and among the only people he felt that he could trust. The dark haired man had not only broken Eragon out of prison once, but he also decided to aid the young Dragon Rider to the Varden, despite knowing the prejudice and contempt he would receive. It was only during the big rush to the hidden gates of the Varden and an army of monsters known as Kull gaining on them, that Eragon had learned why.

As it turned out, Murtagh had been the son of Morzan, Glabatorix's right hand man since his rise to power decades before. Morzan, who not only was the previous owner of the blade Zar'roc, but had slaughtered countless people and innocents prior to his death at the hands of Brom, the man who had been Eragon's mentor. Thus, the Varden's immediate dislike of Murtagh. However, he decided to tag along with Ajihad in order to convince the Varden that he was on their side and was not actually a clone of his father before him.

Unfortunately, he wasn't among the men that Ajihad had had with him when he arrived back at the entrance of the tunnel after his expedition. However, Murtagh's plight had been all but forgotten after the Urgals came out of no where and launched an attack from behind, killing them. Concerned, Eragon sent Arya, the elf he and Murtagh had broken out of the same prison that Eragon had been held in, into the tunnels to try and see what happened.

She only came back with a bloody tunic and some leather gauntlets.

After she had found the items, she had attempted to scry the man (scrying was a method of magic that allowed one to see a person or thing, no matter where it was. However, the person or place or thing, had to have been seen at least once by the caster. Plus, the method of scrying required a reflective surface to play the images off of), but only saw darkness.

Eragon sighed again and glanced up at Saphira, who happened to be asleep at the time. It was hard to imagine just how far they had come in the months since their vengeance fueled mission to kill the Ra'zac had brought them into a world of complexity and danger that it was hard to imagine themselves as simply a farm boy and what was once an egg. He chuckled darkly at the thought of just how naïve he had been when he first started out…and just how stark the reality had been.

Suddenly, he was shaken from his thoughts of angst when someone knocked on the door. The Dragon Rider groaned, "Fine, come in." The door swung open and a messenger boy slowly inched in. He nervously glanced up at Saphira, whose eyes were open and glaring at the boy. He yelped slightly as sweat began to pour.

"Lord Shadeslayer…sir! Um…you have been called…or summoned…or was it called? I can't remember the message exactly, but…ah…well…" Eragon's annoyance was barely being kept in check at this point; he just had to remember to breathe and keep in mind that the boy was merely frightened by his reputation.

"Yes?" he asked patiently, in an attempt to get the boy back on track.

"Oh, right. Anyway, the Council of Elders has asked for your presence in a meeting or discussion or something of that sort…. They really hope that you can be there soon…like in the next half hour or so."

Eragon mentally groaned; not only had his best friend died yesterday, but now the Varden wanted him to dive into their politics as well? Why couldn't he just be given enough time to angst like a proper teenage hero? However, all he said was, "Thank you for the message. The Council will probably meet in Ajihad's office, right?"

The boy stiffened, as he realized that the almighty Shadeslayer had asked him something. "Uh…" his mind went blank. Thoughts zipped through his mind at speeds just fast enough that he couldn't make out any of them. Sweat began to trickle down his face as he saw that the Dragon Rider was getting somewhat impatient. Fearing that something bad would happen to him, he quickly stated, "I'm not completely sure. BUT!" he added as he noticed Eragon's tired glare. "I can lead you there myself!"

Sighing, Eragon reluctantly nodded, "Okay, then. You stand outside the door while I get ready. After that, we can just try and get this over with as quickly as possible."

The messenger nodded quickly, and ran out of the room; he was just happy that he hadn't been burst into flames on the spot.

Sighing, Eragon began to get out of bed. "You awake, Saphira?"

_Yes,_ came her reply. At this point, she was uncurling herself and stretching. Eragon was sliding his boots on.

"Any idea on what the Council could want with us right this second? I mean, doesn't seem to be a little soon to be picking out the new leader? After all, it's only been a day since Ajihad died."

_Politics stops for no man, _she remarked wearily. _If anything, his death would only speed up the process; after all, one cannot let the rebellion be leaderless and disorganized for long. It may cripple the Varden enough for Glabatorix to get the advantage he wishes. _

_Still, you'd think that there would be some time to honor the man, _Eragon thought back. Standing up, he shifted his gaze around the room. He spotted Zar'roc lying on the floor several feet away and began to retrieve it.

_You should probably try and grab something to eat before you go, _Saphira added. _After all, you haven't gone near anything edible in hours. You merely kept telling me that you were far too busy angsting to possibly eat. _

_I'm a teenager and my best friend just died! Cut me some slack! _Eragon scowled up at her; she appeared to be smirking at him. _Look on the bright side; at least I didn't get drunk this time! _

_True, _she shrugged. _That last time in Dras Leona with Brom left you with a horrible hangover; your head was throbbing for hours…it really was rather annoying. _

_And if it were so bad for you, how do you think it affected me? _He retorted. _It's not like we all can have your tolerance for alcohol! _ He had finally reached the sword and was beginning to bend down to reach it. Suddenly, hot, intense pain rapidly filled him, causing him to collapse to his knees. He jerked and groaned slightly as the wave of pain continued to press on his senses. It was so intense he couldn't even think of anything else; only focus on it. He could just barely feel Saphira's attempts to reach him through their mental link, as she too, could feel his pain. Unfortunately, it was futile. After what seemed like hours, the pain slowly began to subside; at least to the point that he could sit up again.

Sweat drenched his face and his panting was the only sound that filled the otherwise silent room. Saphira looked upon him, sympathy apparent. _Eragon…_

_It…was worse…this time, _he mentally moaned. Gingerly, he reached over his shoulder and touched his scar, the source of his suffering…and quickly jerked his hand back. The wound on his back was very sensitive to the touch and was still pulsing, even after most of the pain had subsided. Slowly, he got to his knees and swayed slightly.

_Are you well enough to go, _Saphira asked. Eragon could tell that the question was loaded; if he even gave a hint that he was slightly unfit to go, she wouldn't let him.

_Yeah, yeah…I'm fine. Don't worry so much! _He got to his feet after composing himself again. The Dragon Rider picked up Zar'roc and went about strapping it on. "But I probably won't go straight there anyway; first, I think I'll follow your advice about getting something to eat. And no," he said, looking her in the eye. "You can't come with me. You can meet me there, but just your very presence throws messenger boy of his game and I need him to show me where to go in the first place!" She still looked skeptical and reluctant.

_I don't care, _she remarked pointedly. _The messenger can pee his pants for all I care; but I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone right after your spasm. _

_Fine, _Eragon sighed reluctantly. He went for the door and, once outside, noted that the messenger wasn't even there. "Hello? Anyone there?" he remarked as he looked around; his annoyance was apparent from his tone.

"Right…here…sir," grumbled the messenger, as he got to his feet from behind the open door. He had been standing right in front of the door when it had swung open.

"Sorry about that." Eragon apologized.

"No…problem…sir." The messenger grunted as he tried to fix his now bent nose. Sighing, Eragon glanced as Saphira made her way out of the room as well and had begun to lead the way to the kitchen. He noticed the messenger boy's eyes widen with fear and groaned; he could already tell that this wasn't going to be a good day.

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After acquiring some food, Eragon and Saphira relented control over their path to the messenger boy as he led them down the hallways to wherever the Council was meeting. Much to Eragon's surprise, the messenger gained more confidence as they went along; maybe he had a backbone in there somewhere after all.

_Hey Saphira? Who do you think the Council will nominate Leader?_

_Anyone, I suppose…possibly even you. _

_WHAT?!!, _Eragon mentally yelled; he then began to choke on the piece of bread he had been eating. The messenger glanced over at him.

"Are you okay, Shadeslayer?"

"I…I'm fine; just bit off more than I could chew." The messenger chuckled politely.

"It's…it's just that…there have been rumors going around that Durza cursed you or something before you defeated him." The boy flushed with embarrassment.

"…have there?" Eragon felt annoyed. _We're going to have to put a stop to those; it really wouldn't help us much if people believed I was cursed, _he thought to Saphira.

_Indeed, _she agreed.

_Anyway…what did you mean by me possibly being nominated? _

_It actually makes sense, in a way. Not only are you the one true threat to Glabatorix outside of the elves, but the people of the Varden would follow you. They respect you and some probably see you as a living legend, especially after defeating the Shade. However, what it really comes down to what the Council's interests lye…._

_Such as…?  
_

_Well, whether they are concerned more about the Varden's cause versus say…their power. _

_Ah, _Eragon replied. _You have a point there; they could just as easily vote for an idiot as they would for an actual leader. Probably someone they could bend to their will._

_Exactly, _Saphira nodded. By that time, the messenger had slowed his pace and stopped walking. Glancing past him, Eragon and Saphira saw that they had come to the grand wooden doors of…Ajihad's office.

"I thought that you said that it wasn't in Ajihad's office!"

"Um," the messenger sweated. "I guess I was wrong; I had never been there before, so I didn't recognize it…sorry." He looked rather embarrassed.

"Whatever, it's no real big deal." Eragon gave the messenger a pat on the back. "You did good anyway." The messenger looked up, surprised. "I'm sure that you'll get the hang of it at some point; just hang in there, okay?" Eragon encouraged.

"Ye…yes sir!" the messenger saluted proudly and then began to walk away, back straight.

"You know, I really wish people would stop saluting to me; it just makes me feel awkward." The Dragon Rider remarked to Saphira, who only chuckled in response (well, chuckling in her sense; it just mainly made others wet their pants).

Sighing, Eragon knocked on the door.

"Come in." commanded a deep voice. Pushing the grand doors open, Eragon was met with an interesting sight.

Not only had Ajihad's office been redecorated since the last time Eragon had been there, but the Council itself seemed sort of peculiar: there was Jormundur, the captain of the Varden's fighting forces and Ajihad's right hand man, and there were four people with him. Two men and two women. The men were basically polar opposites, with one being tall and lean, while the other was rather wider and stouter; however, both sported the menacing glares of ones who were in power and knew it. Of the women, there was a middle aged looking one, wearing a lot more make up than was probably necessary, and the other was gray haired, despite appearing to be roughly thirty or so…plus, she had a sheathed dagger positioned between her breasts, barely visible despite the low cut gown. The women's glares were much colder, but at least a little more subtle. The Council was aware that a threat to their power had just entered the room. All in all, Eragon had seen Urgals that were more welcoming.

Meanwhile Jormundur looked tired and slightly overworked (especially after Ajihad's death probably dumped a lot more work on his shoulders), but was at least happy to see Eragon. "Sorry about calling you on such short notice, but we needed your help with something."

The only thing that Eragon could bring himself to say was "You redecorated Ajihad's office? I mean, adding a big, stone table is all well and good, but still…"

Jormundur merely laughed, "Redecorating? This is the way the Council's meeting hall looks all the time! We don't use Ajihad's office; that is only meant for the leader of the Varden. Instead, we mainly meet in this room." He took a step closer to Eragon. "The Council likes to intimidate people who come in here." He whispered. That explained the gloomy and dark atmosphere.

"…Okay then." Eragon sweatdropped; there really were odd people out there after all. "What was this problem that you needed me for?" _These people are not exactly what I had in mind for a Council, _he thought to Saphira.

_No, it wasn't. _She agreed. _However, at least their intentions are clear. But how we deal with their attempts for control is another matter completely. _

_True, but I don't think we need to worry about that this time. I doubt that they would have called me down to add 'input' to their decision for leader. There must be something up. _ Eragon replied.

Meanwhile, Jormundur went around the room and introduced the members of the Council: Tall Man was Umerth, the Broad One was Falbred, and Make Woman was Sabrae, while Dagger Woman was Elessari. Eragon bowed his head in greeting, despite pondering just how the hell to even pronounce their names. Still, he never let his face change from its neutral position.

"Anyway, Eragon. The problem is this: with the loss of the Twins, who apparently were killed during Ajihad's expedition, we have no one to read the minds of new comers to the Varden. Normally, that wouldn't be as big a crisis, especially after the shit hit the fan with Ajihad's death." Sabrae stated. "However, just hours ago, we found a really strange group, banging on our front door, with one of their members in terrible condition. According to their story, they were instructed by a dead man to find and help you. Personally, I think they're drugged, but we need you to confirm their tale."

Eragon looked surprised, "There is no way that would be true: you can not resurrect the dead. Brom heavily emphasized that during the time he taught me. And, for all we know, they were sent here to assassinate me…but that would require them to be working for Glabatorix, and that he would know the exact entrance to the Varden...." _Any suggestions, Saphira? _

_I do not know. This is unlike anything Brom mentioned…but, he wasn't really able to get into the depths of magic prior to his death; for all we know this involved channeling of the dead or a message left behind by someone for others to find. As to why you, it isn't as surprising. Almost no one enjoys the rule of Glabatorix, so it would only be natural for the dying man to support you, as you are the one real threat to the Mad King. _She paused. _Or, they could be sleeper agents for the King. Personally, I think that you should at least meet them. Between the two of us, plus Arya, we should be able to fend off anything they send at us. _

_True...._ "Okay then, I'll see what I can do. However, I would like to take Arya with me; would you happen to know where she is?"

"Why, she is already there with them, healing the wounded member of their party. We couldn't risk letting him die prior to confirming whether he is or not, an enemy." Falbred spoke up.

"And where would that be, sir?" Eragon asked politely, despite being annoyed.

"Down the hall, to the left. The first door on your right."

"Thank you." Eragon bowed again and, with Saphira, exited the room. After walking for a minute or so, they found the door that the Councilman had referred to. Taking a deep breath, Eragon prepared himself for the unknown, and opened the door.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! A SEA MONSTER!!!" came the cry as soon as Saphira's head came into view. This was followed by a _bonk_.

"Moron! Sea monsters can't exist on land! It must be that dragon that the old man told us about!"

"What the…?" Eragon gaped at the sight before him. The room itself was roughly forty by thirty feet, and made with white marble; all in all, not very detailed or distracting. It was the people in it that shocked the poor, unsuspecting Dragon Rider: there was a tan man with a long nose and a fuzzy, smaller man (who was shorter than a dwarf) and had antlers, that were being beaten up by an orange haired woman. Then there was the blue haired man with huge forearms tinkering with some metal gizmo, while a dark haired woman read in the corner. Then there was a blond haired, one eyed man was fighting with green haired man. Finally, there was Arya, kneeling over an unconscious black haired teenager, with a weird straw hat, on the other side of the big white room.

"Hi…you were looking for me?" He cautiously asked, while looking pleadingly at Arya for support. She merely fixed a tired gaze at him and went back to work. _Don't leave me aidless you jerk! It's not my fault you were stuck here alone with them!_ He mentally retorted.

"That's the guy from the wanted poster!" the green haired man shouted, distracted from his hand to hand battle with Funky Eyebrow Man. "Right, Robin?"

The dark haired woman in the corner put her book away and looked up. "Yes. That is the Dragon Rider that Brom instructed us to find."

Arya, Eragon, and Saphira immediately tensed at this. Not only had Eragon's wanted poster been brought up, but the name of his old teacher: Brom. "You knew Brom?" Eragon asked cautiously.

"Kinda. We met him in the land of the dead after our ship broke down because that idiot," the group sent a collective glare at their unconscious fellow, who merely smirked in response and continued on snoring. "We agreed that he would find us fuel while he sent us to help you out against this Galba-stone-what's-his-name dude." Long Nose stated.

"You're not making any sense! You can't have met Brom after he met me; he died! And what's this about a ship? Who the hell are you guys?!"

"We're the Straw Hat Pirates!"

"PIRATES?!!" Eragon and Saphira shouted. "What are pirates doing here?"

"Duh; we already said it: to help you." The blue haired one stated casually.

"Well, you're doing a crappy job! The only thing you're doing is confusing me!"

Arya merely looked up again, "See what I've been dealing with for the past two hours? Even my patience has limits, Eragon."

"Zoro! Just what the hell have you done to that girl?!" the Funky Eyebrow man snarled at Green Hair.

"What makes you immediately think it's me that's the problem, crap cook?!" Zoro snarled back.

Eragon only looked on in awe as a full blown fight began between the two. "What kind of pirates are these?"

"I myself have been wondering that for months now," Robin remarked as she walked to his side. "But if I may venture a guess: the good kind. You'd want them on your side during a fight. Believe it or not, each of these people have a bounty of over a million…excluding poor Chopper of course; the government greatly underestimates him."

"Ar…are you serious? Bounties over a million? That's almost as much as mine!" Eragon's head was swimming. "But why are you here? Who really sent you?"

Robin smiled at him, "un Fricai….I think that's how it is said. A friend, correct?"

Arya stiffened and looked at her in awe, "She knows the Ancient Language?!"

Robin shrugged, "It isn't so different from the written language of the ponyglphs; I noticed that while we were in Dras Leona. However, I do not know a lot of it, outside of the information written in this book." She handed him the book she had just been reading. Eragon tentatively opened it and gasped.

"It…it's written in Brom's handwriting!"

"Really? He never mentioned that he had written it himself….then again, I doubt that there are that many other activities for him where he is now…."

After a few minutes of indecision, Eragon looked up, his gaze intense and questioning. "Please…tell me your story…I'll hear you out."

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…**And that's a wrap! I'm so sorry if the ending seemed rushed, but I found myself having trouble deciding when to cut things off. Also, I know that Eragon really became out of character, but in my defense, I had just been watching Gin Tama episodes late at night and that probably influenced my writing…let me know which side of Eragon you like better and I'll try to write that version more. **

**Once again, in my quest to keep most characters in character, I once again ask you wonderful readers for any helpful comments. **

**READ AND REVIEW!!**


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